The ORION Files (Closed/Started)

[Outcast107]

Walker was caught off guard by Edward showing up.

"Apologies for the interruption...I could not help but overhear the topic of the conversation and thought it prudent to share some news with you, Captain Walker."

Though before he could say anything, he got a pop up on his wrist computer.

"Let us take a look see.." Walker said as he opens up the files and took a look at them. Watching the video recording as he saw what happen. Stopping the video a few times to rewind it as he let out a sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. Rubbing it as he tried to form any feelings at all from this.

"What does Velka think of it? And has Mary seen this at all?" Walker asked. Dealing with Mary has been a drain already about what happens to Resha, and now this? This whole scenario was far worst then Walker could have thought. It didn't even matter at all if this video is fake, the TGR and Chronus have it. They could easily turn the whole TGR's sphere against them. Make them a running fugitive.

This just means they will have to stay out of TGR space for good or find some way to get TGR, or even Chronus for that matter, to wipe the blood from their hands.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Mother Ship: Sweet Child of Mine | The Hanger
Advice from Ed
Edward Aubergine​

[hr]

"What does Velka think of it? And has Mary seen this at all." The Captain asked after watching the news footage that included the doctored video of Mary's spectre launching the colony killing strike.

"Both Velka and I came to the conclusion that this is an obvious forgery, as any being with even a moderate knowledge of munitions can see. There is no possibility that Mary's ship fired the warheads that devastated the colony, if it was even destroyed as the media footage implies." Edward responded coolly, becoming used to presenting the facts as he saw them, "We have confronted Mary with this footage and as expected, she declined involvement in the destruction, though she did state that she launched a number of missiles at the TGR staging area while likely would have caused some amount of collateral damage." He paused for a moment, taking into consideration that he had been looking at Mary's actions in a rather negative light, "While the collateral damage might be unfortunate, it's likely that any civilian killed by Mary would have killed in the TGR's subsequent assault."

Having delivered his report to the Captain, he waited for a response or orders. However, he could see that the Captain already had his hands filled for the day and was likely in need of some assistance.

"If we had access to the TGR military database, it is likely that we could discover the identities of the voices from the TGR military communications channel that had been included in the broadcast. We could then track them down and then we could 'convince' them to assist us in clearing our name... or... we could enlist the aid of our prisoner in seeing if her patrons had any recording assets in the area that might assist us in clearing our name, though I doubt they would elect to aid us without us paying or performing some sort of service on their behalf." The Advice Filled Armored Feline continued before falling silent once again.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa was surprised she was so 'affectionately assaulted', it was weird for her to say the least, but not a bad kinda weird. After Irina ran a few 'checks', she started out, getting a little ways into the hall and toward the hanger before Irina explained the where going to need a bit of 'walking around' money, which was fine, and then asked something she could only classify as 'to stupid for words'. Which surprised Shanoa a bit, she figured Irina was smarter then to ask something as silly as 'could she eat or drink'.

"Are you sure your ok? You where getting enough air in there right?" Shanoa asked, deciding against being full on rude about the question when she did just let the Fashionable Feline out of an air tight room not long ago. "Cause I feel like the answer to that should be rather obvious."

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace
Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

~CLUNK! WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRR! CRUNCH!~

The Merry Little Merchant smiled at the sounds being broadcast through the freighter's hull as the space dock's personnel started swarming the freighter as they snaked fuel, water and electrical lines into the appropriate positions. She briefly considered asking Captain Walker if he needed any fake ship registries setup while Irina and Shanoa were on shore but dismissed the thought when the doors to the airlock slid open, revealing a windowed space bridge.

"Are you sure your ok? You where getting enough air in there right?" Shanoa asked in a manner that belied the fact that she was on the cusp of a sarcastic retort, "Cause I feel like the answer to that should be rather obvious."

Gesturing for her Compatriot in a Killer Kitty Chassis to proceed, Irina gave the question some thought in regards to how she should answer. She, of course, didn't want to answer in a fashion that would have implied that the Ever Pleasant A.I. had chosen to reside in a rather dated chassis but at the same time, Shanoa could have probably done with an update to a more modern body that didn't scream "I'm going to maul you if you look at me funny."

"Well, it's not all that obvious actually. Since it's the first time that I've encountered your model of chassis, I'm not sure if it has any of the synthetic receptors for taste, touch and smell that have become features. Of course, a lot of people asked why an A.I. would want these sorts of options, outside of utilitarian reasons like bio/chemical toxin detection, but they're not getting that the more sensory input you allow an sort of intelligence, the more you allow it to expand beyond its original purpose." Irina commented as they reached the midpoint of the space bridge, pausing to admire the light recon fighter that passed overhead, "Now you can't tell me that you haven't been the least bit curious as to what all the fuss about food is all about, can you?"

Continuing on they passed over the bridge and entered the station proper, entering some sort of market area. Looking about, the Catican Merchant/Mechanic inhaled deeply, savoring the unique scent of the market... its DNA. Every market that Irina had ever visited had its own distinct smell that was dependent not only the food being hawked but the number of vendors and the type of merchandise being sold. With a large enough database of samples, you could tell where a particular object had been sold based solely on how it smelled, which was particularly useful if you were ever wanted to track down the origin of an object.

"Oh... that place looks promising!" The Excited Exchanger of Imports commented as she headed towards a rather particularly jittery looking merchant that proclaimed himself as being the proprietor of Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet which had prices so low you would call its proprietor insane.

"Look, it might not say Sony on the outside of but it's the insides that count," Crazy Sal stated to a doubtful looking client, "Look, look, look... look... ... look... ... ... look, my man, I guarantee that this thing was made using the guts of Sony model that you're looking for but at only ... a hal-... a quarter the price! Why pay a premium for the external label?!"

 

[Outcast107]

'Well, at least we know it's fake.' Walker thought as he shakes his head. "Well, this is just great. the TGR got us by the balls, and we might be on the government most wanted list." He then whispers lightly to himself, "I'm going to need a drink after this...probably a few."

He wonders where Mary was at this moment but pushes that thought out of his mind for now. She has been trying too hard to keep herself away from him, and if Ed already tried to talk to her, she probably already made up her mind to not talk about it. He'll let her be off for now, but only until they finish the repairs of the ship.

"Alright, we'll question the prisoner first. See what info we can get out of her. I doubt it will be much since she just a low grunt, but we better see if there anything she knows at least. We'll get over this major hurdle when we can. Once we get repairs and set off, we'll look for more clues while we do missions to get our wallets bigger. Can't clear our names if we're broke." He chuckles lightly, hoping his stupid joke could get the purple cat to smile.

"Until the repairs are finished, just take a rest, Ed. If you want to, go out and explore. Just don't get into too much trouble. I already have enough with Mary." He patted Ed's shoulder and start to walk away. Heading towards his room to lock himself in and drink his problems away for now.

 

[FalloutJack]

We should point out, since it was mentioned, that Elliot and Grace had seen the posters for Rafe, but...acting on the advice of Mary to tone down the bounty hunting on the pirate station, they weren't going to actively pursue him. True, the man was disliked IN this place, but they weren't really interested unless he happened to drop into view. Grace would get a signal in her eyes and...Elliot would probably catch sight if he WAS around. That said, they still kind of had other business to attend to. Mary was still unaware that they were making sure she didn't end up dead, though part of that was - of course - due to the fact that they'd played it rather loose. Mary had been a pirate for a long time and could certainly handle herself. Elliot was looking for that one slip in a million where she ends up gutted, that's all. Having eyed their conversation with somewhere between amusement and surprise, he returned to Grace.

"Follow."

He knew she couldn't really hear him right not, so she'd be heading out of the loud room so they could pull out their earplugs. Grace still looked a little confused, though.

"What's going on, Elliot?"

"They're going to another dive for some 'fun'."

"I saw how they were acting. Should we really be watching this?"

"If they were just into that, I'd said no, but it looks like they wanna beat up a bar. We need to make sure nothing fatal happens, that's all. This place wasn't exactly our style, anyway."

Damn straight. Give Elliot a bar that understands that hangovers are a thing, not some place that would make your thrice-drunk head explode. Now, Mary began to point out places to Mar that were popular for getting drunk. The two mercs had passed those places on the way here. Notice how the bartender is either KO'd or nursing a throbbing skull for being out of the booze? So, they eventually came to Bordello Row, to place called the Dead Orbit... It was a dive, alright. Not bad, but obviously the kind of place where you need your wits about you doubly-so because you're taking in drinks that'll reduce your capacity around dangerous folks. Well...Elliot and Grace were dangerous too. Mary and Mar had made it to the bar, but someone - maybe several someones - wanted to play first. Buncha' tough guys, first-rate trash. The man in front of Elliot was one-eyed with an eyepatch that had little spikes coming off of it.

"Heh... Can't tell if it's a slaver or a mercenary. Maybe it's both. Tell me something, little man... What'll you take for that 'xotic piece of ass you got there?"

"Me? Nothing."

"That's what I thought. Alright, missy, you're coming with m- AAAUGH!!"

Elliot smirked. Grace lived on the streets for years with nothing but a crappy blade to defend herself. Now, she had top-notch hardware, the likes of which had just removed most of the man's extended fingers in a swift motion.

"My friend, however, will start taking payments in whatever unwanted limbs you stick in her direction. We're not slavers."

Now, this understandably created a problem, but not the normal kind of problem. The guy that'd blocked their path was backing off to stop the bleeding and maybe get his fingers fixed. The reaction from everybody else was mixed. Some were laughing or cheering, some were getting angry, and - weirdly - some were getting turned on.

"Grace, I think they like you."

"I don't like them."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Tortuga Drift | Shore Leave | Dead Orbit Bar
"Go looking for trouble, won't be long to find it."​

[hr]

While Mary led her heavily-inebriated Shree companion through Tortuga Drift to a "real party", she was kind enough to point out some of the offerings the station had on the way, even calling out to a familiar faces as they cropped out. Not that Mar paid much attention, with her focus as thoroughly shattered as it was. Her four eyes' gaze, normally so steady and intense, darted to take in as much of her surroundings as possible, to the point where most of their trip ended up being a blur.

Which meant that Mar was incredibly thankful when they came up to a little dive with a sign that said "Dead Orbit". The Ex-Pirate led them both inside, and as she took them to a heavily reinforced bar, the Shree Pilot immediately took notice of the bartender, who was a fellow Shree himself. An old one at that, given the rougher, washed out texture of his hide. That, and the fact that his teeth had some noticeable gaps between the rows.

What came as no surprise, however, was that he and Mary knew each other, which prompted a soft laugh from Mar. So when he turned to her, her head tilted a little to one side and she regarded him with an easy smile.

"Watch yourself young blood, Red here is what we call 'destabilizing influence'."

A canister holding her sixth Mind Crawler of the night slid through the bar's hatch. She snatched it up without any hesitation, but instead of simply knocking it back like the last one, this time she reached in with a true-hand and pulled it out by the tail.

"As if I'm not?" she said with a smirk, before she tilted her head back.

Her mouth opened as she lowered the Tsi'vaan into it, and then she began the now-familiar, torturous process of chewing on the poor thing to get the most out of it's high. Then she heard a scream behind her, one that didn't sound like it was the result of the bare-knuckle brawl by the stage, and her head whipped around to find the source. As some bar patron cradled what was left of his hand against his chest, Grace flicked a knife with some casual ease, Elliot right next to her. Apparently those two decided to come along for the ride.

She patted Mary's organic shoulder with a true-hand while she finished off her Mind-Crawler with some audible crunching.

"I think we've got a party." she said after she swallowed, before she stood up and strode up to the Bounty Hunting Duo.

The moment she reached them, she crossed both pairs of arms over her barrel chest and spread her lips into what could only be technically considered a grin. But the multitude of bared, bloodied teeth couldn't really be considered particularly friendly, and her eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Are these fine sapients giving you any trouble?" she asked sweetly.

 

[Athol]

"I think we've got a party."

?Hmmm?? Turning in the direction Mar was already heading, she raised an eyebrow at the fact that Elliot and Grace seemed to have followed them here, Dead Orbit was an out of the way place, and neither of the bounty hunters had really struck her as ?dive bar? types?at least in their off hours; but those were questions for a later date.

The alcohol was starting to makes itself known, but she?d spent the better part of three decades intoxicated to some degree, so she was much more functional than one might assume. Eyeing the ones that?d confronted Elliot and Grace, she was less than impressed; chains and decorative spikes dotted their clothes, a couple wore obvious trophies from prizes. Little boys playing at being hard men.

"Are these fine sapients giving you any trouble?"

They?re not worth the breath. She thought as she ghosted passed, using Mar?s size to hide her movements. Most everyone was focused on Grace or the idiot that she?s just preformed a minor amputation on, Mary was looking at the crew Mr. Fingerless was with. One was moving to tend to Fingerless, a couple were just standing there looking stunned, but one wannabe hard boy was stuffing a hand under is over decorated coat.

Slipping out of ?cover? she launched herself at the drawing Hard Boy, and slammed a vicious left cross into the side of his head, sending him careening into a table, scattering the patrons, and their drinks, sitting there.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa thought about Irina's reply a bit before responding. "No, not really. 'Fuel' is 'fuel' after all. The thing I don't get the fascination with is 'sex'. Strikes me as odd you lot would be so into the reproductive process 'just cause'." She said, replying in full as the walked a long, stopping and some shop called 'Crazy Sal's' as Irina seemed certain 'this was the place'.

"But the exploration of that requires a body I don't have, and no, 'just any old body' will not due. If I'm going to go that rout, I'm going to be very picky."

 

[FalloutJack]

He wouldn't call this a situation. More like that moment of confusion between events whether people decide to escalate into one or not. On the one hand, they don't take kindly to mercenaries like them, most of the time. But on the other hand, the one without fingers, Grace would not allow anyone to touch her in an unwarranted fashion...and she had a right to keep it that way. During this time, Mar stepped over to them and asked if these people were bothering them.

"Just a minor misunderstanding."

The kind where the fingers misunderstood that there is a perpetual line in the sand drawn against such intrusions. Now, even as this exchange went on, there were two things of interest. Three, if you count Mary's reaction to Mar's inquiry. First, Mar had bloody teeth...probably from eating those...whatever-they-were. Grace hadn't seen this, she she raised an eyebrow at it. The second thing, which they both noticed, was the guy reaching into his clothes, probably for a weapon, probably a gun.

Don't do it. You'll never make it.

Elliot was poised to potentially dodge, shield, and draw his gun to fire...if he needed to. He could possibly just stop the shot from reaching anybody, like himself or Grace or Mar...whom he really didn't want to see shot in the back again, or anywhere. However, Mary clobbered him, so he really didn't have to do anything. Now, Elliot smiled.

"We were just having trouble finding anywhere for a drink, 'cause the people of Tortuga are all so hearty when it comes to downing the stuff."

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace | Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
The Special Stock
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

As the two waited for Crazy Sal to finish up with his customer, the Neutral Network Enthusiast considered her Panther-Like Partner's response. Irina felt a bit annoyed by the lioness' lackluster desire for expansion beyond whatever parameters she'd been programmed with but there was also a sense of acceptance. If it was Shanoa's decision to maintain her current parameters for eternity (or while her personality matrix was relatively stable), there was nothing that the Catican Merchant/Mechanic could do other than accept it and move on, though, it wouldn't stop her from explaining her perspective.

"'Fuel' is 'fuel' after all. The thing I don't get the fascination with is 'sex'. Strikes me as odd you lot would be so into the reproductive process 'just cause'." Shanoa had responded flatly, "But the exploration of that requires a body I don't have, and no, 'just any old body' will not due. If I'm going to go that rout, I'm going to be very picky."

Were her prickly little A.I. paying attention, she would have had to replay the previous second at one eighth speed to capture the sudden perking of Catican Ears in response to the second part of Shanoa's response.

"(So there is a chance...)" The Meddlesome Merchant muttered internally as she nodded slowly, her poker face in full effect, "Yeah of course you have to be picky. You definitely don't want to choose just any old body out there..." Irina responded, tapping the chest of an old style, gold plated protocol droid that had seen better days.

It was about that time that Shanoa might have noticed that something or more specifically, someone was looking at her chassis, lifting up the haunches of her body.

"Yes, yes, veryniceverynice," The Proprietor and Namesake of Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet said as he examined the Apathetic About Experiences A.I.'s chassis. This probably was going to end very very badly for Crazy Sal.

"[small]Shanoa... don't... kill... him[/small]" Irina muttered through gritted teeth, seemingly telling herself that as well, "[small]We... need... access... to... his... special... stock...[/small]"

[hr]

The Orion Files | Tortuga Docks | Freighter Sweet Child of Mine
Meanwhile...
Edward Aubergine​

[hr]

Having been dismissed by the Captain, the Heavily Armored Catican had been preparing to leave the ship when he spotted the Power Armor belonging to his fellow Crew Member Brian Wojtek. This was not the first time that the Colossal Catican had encountered Kodiak Mechanized Infantry Support Armour, Model #MMCVIII... however it was the first time that he had encountered it while it was in one piece and was not actively trying to kill him.

~Tap tap tap~

The tip of Ed's claw tapped on the unit's chest armor, trying to discern if there was a weak point anywhere.

~SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE~

That would have been Edward running the same claw along the armored chest, making the nearly universally loathed sound of nails on a chalkboard (nearly universally loathed as it was almost identical a tone to the mating call of the Sirian Sylbba'an).

 

[Outcast107]

Pitt walks out of the ship as he took a look around the port. There were a few things he needed from the port. Some parts here, there, and some over there. Though what he really wanted, was some info about the last mission. Hoping some news came up with some of the info brokers. As he headed off, a drunk pirate got in his way.

"Hey *Hiccup* Hey there little man...aren't you a bit short to be on this port? You should head on-" That was as far as the pirate got to say before Pitt pulled out his gun and fired. A large net coming out and pinning the pirate to the wall. "I have no time for morons like you. I have business elsewhere!" He shouted as he made his way to one of the few cheaper stores within the port.

The pirates nearby watch as the short junker went on his way. Some of the eye witnesses check on the pirate who got netted to the wall and found him knocked out. From the force of the net being fired, it made him hit his head kind of hard and knock him out for a bit. Some witnesses just shrugged at each other and went on their way. Not caring about what happens as long as it doesn't involve them, but a few stay around to mock the netted pirate.

"Ha..Drunk Frank got caught up in some trouble again."

"What a dumbass...Hey Frank! You're a dumbass" The pirates started to poke through the net and make fun of the knocked out pirate. Trying to find ways to mess with him through the net as one starts trying to push some of their beer bottles and cans through the net with frank.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa was about to make a mental note of Irina's odd choice of wording in reply to her answer, but she was distracted by Sal, getting significantly more 'hands on' then she would have preferred.

If she could, she'd have taken a single deep breath, and then with some very precise aim, stabbed the flooring between his legs, with her tail, at such an angle that it left a cut in the crotch of his pants uncomfortably close to the 'tender bits'. "Sal, is it?" Shanoa said, her tone 'calm' in that way that screams 'DANGER! DANGER!'. "I'll have to ask you ... 'kindly' to keep your hands to your self." She said, the mono eye of her frame, pointing forward, but burning a very bright red. "So if you would be so kind as to unhand me, my comrade would like to do business." She added as she pulled her tail back.

She felt no need to make any further threats, the one, she felt, should be enough to get the point across.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace | Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
The Special Stock pt. 2
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

To be quite frank, Irina was a bit disappointed that Shanoa had displayed so much restraint since wounding Crazy Sal would have served to demonstrate that they were there for actual business people looking to do actual business as opposed to being tourists looking for some sort of cheap plastic Sony knockoff. Regardless of whether or not the Annoyed A.I.'s warnings forwarded the Merchant/Mechanic's motives, it did get Crazy Sal's brain to register the message "Do not touch under penalty of castration." The store's proprietor backed off a bit, his perma-smile fading a bit at the edges as the wariness set in. Clearing her throat, Irina signaled for the man's attention as she tossed the man a small data cube.

"Here's a manifest of items I want to offload. All of it top quality merch produced by Chronus." Irina said, waiting for the man to go over the list, thankful that they were on a station that didn't really mind what was being sold... otherwise everything would have to be phrased as code.

"Huh... what makes you think that I'm in the market for this sort of..."

"Sal... honey. I've made deals with your second cousin, Loony Larry, your Nephew, Mad Mal and your Sister, Lavern. I know that you're in the market for this sort of thing." The Experienced Exporter of Less than Legal Loads commented, her tail swaying back and forth, possibly triggering whatever sort of chemical detector was installed in Shanoa's current chassis.

"Even if that were the case, I don't have enough creds on hand to..."

"I'll take what you can spare in creds and the rest plus 50% in store credit," Irina countered without allowing the man to finish. It was a fairly standard deal except for that Crazy Sal continued to play dumb.

"Well... you see that what's on my shelves is hardly enough to cover..."

"No... it's not. That's why you're showing us the special stock." Irina said walking towards the back of the store, rattling a set of beaded curtains that blocked the backroom from prying eyes.

"Hey! Hey! Where are you going!" Crazy Sal called out, knowing that it was just really no use.

"HEY SHANI! COME ON BACK! THERE'S A FEW THINGS BACK HERE THAT YOU MIGHT ENJOY!" The Playful Puss-in-heels called out as she opened a door that had been hidden behind a shelf, revealing Crazy Sal Secret Stash.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa watched the exchange between Irina and Sal once the merchant backed off. It amused her a bit watching the kitty 'strong arm' her way into the back room.

After a moment or so of Irina being, she called out to Shanoa, with promise of Sal having wares that might be of interest to the AI. As she entered to back room, she was greated with the sight of a rather decent selection of items who's acquisition was questionable at best.

The mono eye of Shanoa's frame slowly moved from one side of her head, scanning the various items. "Huh, not bad." she said as she moved through the collection, picking up the off piece now and then. "Oh? You managed to get your hands on one of these eh?" she said, using the grabber built into the 'blade' on the end of her tail to pick up a particular, and rather unassuming piece of tech. She set the piece on her shoulders, effectively starting on her own little 'shopping trip'.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Velka | Tortuga Drift | The Dean's Domino Effect Casino & Bar

Looking for Work: Chapter 2​

After checking out a couple of other establishments, one of which ended in Velka dumping someone who attempted to cop-a-feel in a nearby trash can, and no sign of Mr. Rafe so far, although she had heard one or two things about him, namely that he had a fondness for Manhattan cocktails, which she decided might be useful information in helping to pick out her target from a crowd.

She had arrived at the third destination that Gantu had put on her list of Mr Rafe's more frequent hangouts, according to the display, it was a large sized casino that sat on three floors with the main casino area situated on the outside, whilst the bar could be found more towards the center across all three floors; though you could still partake in some gambling through the use of holographic slot machines at the bar counter, wherein your winnings would be transferred onto a credit chit that you could exchange for cash.

Velka made sure her equipment was carefully concealed on her person, but still within ease of reach before heading into the casino, where she could see that it was certainly busy; not exactly at capacity, but you would be hard pressed in finding a free spot at the tables, at least from where Velka could see.

Immediately she began scanning her surroundings for any sign of Mr Rafe, catching a few that made a partial match, namely in attire, but whose face and in some cases, species were wrong. Velka couldn't just go asking people at random if they had seen the guy, she wouldn't know if the person she was speaking to was an associate, who would more than likely tip Rafe off that someone was looking for him, and he'd make tracks long before she got anywhere.

No, if she was to strike, it would have to be sudden, before suspicions were raised, and for that, she'd need to blend in a little; and what better way than with a drink. With that, she went up to the bar, ordered a couple of whiskeys, and began her watch, whilst pretending to play the slots.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace | Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
The Special Stock pt. 3
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"Oh? You managed to get your hands on one of these eh?" Shanoa commented as she grabbed an object from one of the shelves that Irina couldn't quite see.

"Your servant has quite the sharp eye..." Sal started to say before being interrupted once again.

"And in case you've already forgotten, quite the sharp tail... if you don't want a reminder of this little fact, I suggest you avoid calling her my servant another time." The Catican Merchant snapped before returned to perusing the shelves that were stuffed full of wares both common and quite uncommon. There was no perceptible order to how things had been arranged other than Sal having a morbid obsession with stuffing as much merch into each square millimeter of shelf space as possible. Looking at the mishmash of items, the Pretty in Pink Puss in Pumps was tempted to toss the random bits on the floor just to give her eyes some room to focus before she spotted a particular item of interest.

The cube measured 7 cm x 7 cm x 7 cm was clear and appeared to be filled with some sort of dark substance not unlike an oozing cloud, if one could imagine such a thing. Scanning the object, Irina's Nanex identified the item as a swarm of medical nano-agents used for enhanced healing and rehabilitation. While useful, the nano-bots themselves had an average half-life of several hours before they were filtered out by the patient's kidneys and expelled from the host's body. Irina's Nanex also indicated that, though rare, some patients had reported increased cases of severe kidney stones, bowel blockages, anal hemorrhaging, jaundicing of the taint and euphoria during urination.

"This could be handy for our floppy finned friend..." Irina commented, referring to the prisoner back on the ship.

Walking over to Shanoa, the Friendly Neighborhood Catican and Amateur Airlock Breaker glanced at her companion's items.

"Find anything interesting?"

 

[Lunar Templar]

Shanoa ignored the 'servant' comment as she poked through Sal's Selection, wasn't really worth her threatening again him over, grabbing a piece here, a piece there, nothing to spectacular to her since they where just 'replacement parts'. One being for the mount on her back. She'd been getting an error in the from the hardware side of things. Nothing major, but it was annoying her. The first piece was part of an upgrade to her Stealth unit, was only a 10% boost in efficiency with her set up, so she wasn't planning on installing it till she needed to.

She grabbed an optical upgrade to go with the other stuff, when she saw something on a create. An Emblem that wasn't in her data base but seems very familiar for some reason. "Maybe" She replied as she approached the create, and inspected it a bit. "Hey Sal, whats the story with this create?"

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Tortuga Drift | Shore Leave | Dead Orbit Bar
"Those hand-to-hand self defense drills come in handy. So does bar-fight experience."​

[hr]

Unlike the six-fingered man, neither Grace nor Elliot seemed in the least bit flustered with the bloodshed. And in fact, when she asked if there was trouble, Elliot just gave her a shrug. Much to her disappointment.

"Just a minor misunderstanding."

Her face fell a little, until movement out of the corner of her eyes caused her to nearly whirl around in anticipation of an attack. Which, there was. Only, the one being attacked was one of the other bar patrons, presumably a friend of the man Grace had amputated fingers off of. And the one doing the attacking, was none other than Mary.

One of the better known side-effects of Tsi'vaan secretions is mild hyper-awareness, although that is less useful than it would sound due to a much more severe attention-deficit. But this was one of those rare moments on a Tsi'vaan high where Mar managed to focus. So as the Shree's eyes followed her lunge in it's entirety, she managed to see the silhouette of a gun dropping from a hand just before it clattered on the bar floor.

Mar's eyes immediately darted up to the rest of the men who were in the middle of backing away from their wounded comrade when Mary attacked. They froze, for just a moment's hesitation. And that was enough as Mar took her turn to launch herself forward.

They were both Terrans, and she could see the eyes of the one closest to her widen as she reached for him. Her right true-hand grasped his face, her false-hands held underneath one knee and the waistband of his pants. And she rammed him against the reinforced bar. As he crumpled to the bar floor, Mar turned to his buddy. She snaked out her left true-hand to trap his forearm in an iron grip, pulling him towards her. At which point she rammed both of her right fists into his belly, finishing by whirling around him him in tow, and slamming him next to her first victim into the bar.

With a soft huff, she grinned.

"Anyone else wanna start somethin'?" she asked softly as one of the two men began to retch.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Orion Files | Tortuga | Marketplace | Crazy Sal's Cosmic Co-Op and Outlet
The Special Stock pt. 4
Irina Rostikova​

[hr]

"Hey Sal, whats the story with this crate?"

~COUGH COUGH COUGH~

The Pink Furred Amateur Flyer's cough was followed by the universal "oh no you didn't" look from Irina Rostikova. It was a relatively common piece of common knowledge among those who had frequented the shops belonging to the Crazy Sals of the Cosmos that anyone asking for the particular history regarding a piece in Lempkey shop (Lempkey being Sal's familial name) had both plenty of time to spare as well as a morbid desire for a headache. If there was one thing that the Lempkey clan was truly crazy about, it was history and in order to augment their obsession, every one of the Crazy Lempkeys had installed an augment called Bardic Knowledge (its name inspired by a relatively unknown and little played game originating on Earth where the players pretended to characters... there were dice and things too). Of course, since Crazy Sal's common clientele weren't exactly the curious type nor, truth be told, were they the type that asked questions , he was only rarely able to use this expensive piece of technology.

"Well that's quite the eye you have there... friend... you see that there is a box that originated on Terra Prime back when they actually used real wood to build containers for storage. This particular box was crafted by pressing creating sheets of wood pulp that were glued together making it both cheap to manufacture as well as fairly sturdy. Based on the weight of the box, its contents not withstanding, I would say that the container also has a ceramic and lead lined interior, ideal for concealing whatever was inside the container. This makes perfect sense when you consider that the logo printed on the box belongs to not one but two Corps, the most identifiable being RaDiKs, a Corp that specialized in physical package delivery..." Crazy Sal warmed up as he also started to warm up a pot of coffee for himself and his guests, "... but we'll get back to RaDiKs after we finish the history of the container..."

~15 minutes later~​

"... from the scratches and paint transfer that you can see in the finish, the container was likely transferred from the HMSS Shippy McShipFace, an unfortunate name for a scientific vessel but that's what happens when you leave the naming of your ships to masses of unintelligent internet trolls, to the USSS Ivanka..."

~30 minutes later~​

"...the war of 2306 was waged between the indigenous people of the New Saharan Plateau on Antilles Prime against the fledgling Terran Grand Republic... this container was used to transport miscellaneous ammunition through ANS customs before being delivered to the BlackHand Megacorp, a company that resulted from the merger of the Halliburton and Blackwater... that's actually what this other logo is here on the container. They actually folded a few years later after they failed to develop some sort of weapon that they promised to the TGR... but anyways... the container appeared to stay with the BHM for a while longer, at least for the remainder of the conflict between the indigenous people of the New Saharan Plateau on Antilles Prime and the TGR.."

~1 hour later~​

"Which is how I got my hands on this little container here..." Crazy Sal concluded, finishing his green truffle salad with minced canine and capers.

"So... what's in the box?" Irina said patiently, her voice sounding like it would have rather been screaming the words at Sal instead of polite way it was asked.

"Dunno. Never been able to open it. Never been able to scan its contents." Crazy Sal shrugged, "But... since it's made of wood..."

"Plywood..."

"Which is still a form of wood. I'll let you have it for... 50k creds." The Shop's eccentric and long winded proprietor offered with a smile.

"10K for wasting our time." Irina countered, her tail once again swaying back and forth in a rather hypnotic manner.

"DEAL!!!" Sal screamed, his voice sounding almost relieved to be rid of the box.

"BUt that's only if Shanoa wants it... and if she does end up wanting it... you forget this little bit of historical trivia if anyone ever asks you about it." The relieved hoping to some day be casino bound Catican stated, her eyes fixed on her mono-eyed, mono-tailed, blade slicing A.I. people killer.