forum Sci-fi Roleplay??

Started March 05, 2018 by Squishy

tune

Valentina looked down at her bottle of vodka. She felt tears stinging her eyes, so she took a swig. "Regret? Bounty hunters don't have time to regret." She avoided the question.

Elizia noticed her held back tears right away. The priests in her old Ziera often got…. emotinal, and had worn a similar face.

She didn't mention it, instead replying, "I imagine not. You must have some great stories."

"Oh, definitely," Valentina blurted, and then she launched into a crazy story about her facing down twenty pirates on sector 345. She just wanted to distract herself. She tried not to think about Ame.

Elizia nodded, taking it all in. The story, a seemingly unwinnable battle turned into an easy victory, hints of the technological goldmine that was the sector, it all made her eve more excited for what lay ahead. Valentina Grandstovian may have done all this alone, but Elizia would have Brella. The Arazael sisters, pure blooded Mechanists, valiant fighters, resourceful and clever. Elizia smiled, caught up in her own thoughts. Too caught up, it seemed, to notice the blinking light on the dashboard.

Valentina finished her story with a smile. "And just like that, they turned on each other. Didn't notice me making off with their stuff. Just part of the job." She took another swig of her vodka. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a flashing light on the dashboard. "Does that mean something?" she asked, nodding toward it. She wasn't the best of pilots, so it didn't concern her.

Elizia turned towards the dash, then jumped up in a hurry. Taking her seat in the pilot's chair, she threw on a headset and listened intently, then keyed the mic, "This is Captain Elizia of the Mechanist Workship Loveless, what is your distress?"

She listened for a little bit longer, plotted a new course, then turned to face Val, "Merchant ship. Their coolant cell is going bad. If someone doesn't stop to give them a hand, they'll be slag in 6 hours, give or take. They're on the way, so we aren't deviating very far."

She went to fetch her tools and an EVA suit.

"Do we have to?" Val whined, slamming her vodka onto the counter and following Elizia around. "What if they're hostile?"

"And what if they aren't?" replied Elizia, not looking up from her tool set, "Then we just saved a cargo shipment and the people tending to it."

Val rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. You're the captain." She fingered at her weapon hidden in her clothes. If things went south, Val wouldn't hesitate.

Somehow, Elizia had been expecting more opposition from the drunk hunter. All the better she didn't. If Val was this agreeable drunk, then Elizia presumed that she would be more or less the same sober.

The ship scanners whirred as they approached the merchant vessel. Elizia keyed her mic again as the ships docked together, "Before we open our doors, I would like a cargo manifest, please?"

On the other end was a gruff old man, who even sounded like a merchant trader, "Of course. Sending them to you now, Loveless."

The screen flicked on, and Elizia scanned the list, then waved for Val, "Come see this!"

On the screen, alongside cigarettes and whiskey, was "water-based dissinfectant." She hadn't realized that there was water pure enough to do that still.

"That has to be from Ame," she said, beaming.

"Looks like it," Valentina agreed, "it's got a seal I recognize." She shrugged delicately. "I guess you were right."

Elizia smiled, then turned to cross the docking tube, where standing on the other side, was a short old man with a long, brown beard and a friendly demeanor about him. He was accompanied by two other men in what reminded Elizia of old-earth military navy uniforms, pistols at their sides with the safeties engaged. They seemed… less friendly, but it was the old one who did the talking.

"Welcome, Captain Elizia. Thanks for stopping to lend us aid. I'm Chero Malleus, of the AMS WaveRunner."

Valentina eyed the men with an innocent smile. Her hand was still on her weapon, tucked away so no one could see. "Hello! I'm Valentina. Grandstovian. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

Chero eyed Valentina and smiled, "Why, of course I have. You were on Ame when the whole business with the president's wife went down. Dreadful thing, that…"

"Dreadful?" Val chirped, balancing on her heels. "It was a wild ride, I'll grant you that. What a scandal."

"Indeed," he said grimly, clasping his hands together, "We had an interesting time trying to cope with it…"

Elizia cleared her throat politely, and Chero turned back to her, "Yes, of course. The coolant. Right this way, please." He led them down a set of stairs into the main engine area, then hooked a right into the coolant room. Right away the temperature went from really warm from the engines to nearly freezing cold.

The coolant tanks themselves were lined up in the back of the room. There were five of them, sporting pipes that led from the top of the tanks to various other parts of the engine. The second take from the right was missing it's entire bottom section, seemingly blown off by the sheer force of the pressure.

Elizia let out a low whistle.

"I'm no mechanist," Val remarked, staring at the damage with a smirk, "but that looks bad. How'd it happen?" Chero was still watching her, she noted. Perhaps checking her for weapons. She liked feeling dangerous.

"Pipe blockage," Elizia answered instantly, "probably a premature coolant freeze. Stopped it up, pressure built up, boom." She turned to Chero, "I'm going to need everyone off the ship so I can shut down systems while I'm working. Head over to my ship, lock the door behind you. I have an EVA suit, I'll be fine. Go."

She pointed to Val, then to the ground next to herself, Come here, please.

Valentina flashed a smile at Chero again before crouching near Elizia. "Yes, boss?" she said in a low voice.

She counted off on her hand, "One: Keep them out of the workshop, lock the door to it. Two: I'll be done in half an hour, at least, an hour and a half at most. If I'm not, call for help, don't come in. Three: Keep an eye on them, keep them entertained, whatever it takes. But for the sake of whatever might be holy to you, please don't kill anyone unless you have to."

"No workshop, come get you in an hour, kill people," Valentina listed off with a teasing grin, "Got it, no problem." She winked, standing up and clasping her hands together. "Who wants vodka?"

Elizia rolled her eyes, then slipped her key card into Valentina's jacket as she left.

"Let me know when ya'll are clear of this ship!" She called, sorting out her tools.

Valentina led them back out and in to the Loveless. First she locked the workshop –see, she was reliable!–. She sent a message to Elizia's data pad saying that they were off of the ship, and then she turned to her captives –err, her guests. "So. How's it going?" She grinned at them.

Chero answered, "Not very much in my life. You'll find that as you get oler there isn't much to do that still keeps you wealthy. So these last few years for me have been going back and forth in a straight line."

Elizia acknowledged the message and shut down the ship systems. A dying whirr resounded throught the ship, and the lights went out. Using the lights on her now sealed EVA suit, she set to work on the pipes of the coolant, trying to figure out where the blockage was.

"God, that sounds miserable," she replied, taking a seat. She offered seats to the guests. "Remind me to never get old."