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Post by Argon on Mar 29, 2015 4:18:01 GMT -5
*She trusts Soline with her life?* Argon wondered to himself. Granted, Soline had been kind enough not to launch him naked into space after he'd repeatedly attempted to make off with "patronage" money or valuables, but to actually trust Soline...
As he listened to Cate go through the datapad's contents he lazily glanced around the room, until he heard the words "Entheriel converter" come out of her lips. Argon snapped his head towards her and stared as she finished. "Does that really say Entheriel converter? Soline isn't lying when she says you can't buy those with money alone... they're incredible hard to find and worth more than their weight in gold. May I see that pad for a moment?"
Minding his cuffs, Argon decided to peek around Cate's arm rather than attempt to snatch the datapad. He wished he were tall enough to see over her. "Converter... retrieval... Jomuth... discreet... Well it seems I will indeed be of use to you. There's no one better when it comes to getting the richer half of Aether society to hand over their valuables. Or, er... provide information to assist in this retrieval we're supposed to do. Of course, in order to help you all I'll need to be unshackled. Wouldn't do to meet a dignitary such as Jomuth looking like a petty thief would it? Which I'm not, by the way. Not a thief. Artist." Argon put on his best puppy-dog eyes and looked up at the pilot. He wondered what these humans knew of Aether art. Perhaps he could have some fun with them. "It would be my pleasure to render your visage in the finest gases, my new friend. It will be a feast for the senses - sight, smell, and touch."
He tried not to let it show that he noticed the message didn't say anything about not letting him touch the object they were retrieving. It must have been in the private part Soline had given to the pilot and... Si, the injured one. What else might it have said...? Luckily, it seemed these humans weren't very familiar with Aether biology and wouldn't notice the curious pink tinge developing at the back of his head.
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Post by Silas Sedgewick on Mar 29, 2015 22:33:04 GMT -5
Silas took her time in reading the text on the datapad after Cate had given her synopsis. At the end of it she made a face, though she didn't make it obvious for what reason. "So, we're grounded until we get something from some important Aether, and we need this sweet talking gas bag to do it for us. No offense," she shrugged, as if she wasn't sure whether or not she honestly meant it offensively or not.
"Afterwards, what, we're just letting you hitchhike back to whatever planet you're from? Sent to us in shackles, and left without," she mused, scratching at the top of her facial scar.
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Post by Ashleigh Blevins on Mar 30, 2015 3:26:22 GMT -5
Ash just leeeeans back, relaxing. "Well then. Seems pretty straightforward to me."
He lets out a breath, blowing a few strands of hair out of his face. "You've got one of the priciest engines in the sector - and the prettiest, too. Seriously, she's a beauty. Put a good motherboard in, add in a standard IOS and synthesized AI, and she'd be the belle of the ball in minutes. Oh, such a beautiful piece of machinery. Cogs and gyros all awhirr with energy..." He grins, staring off into space.
After a moment he comes down from his...Whatever that was. "...Woof. Heh, sorry. The procurement aspect might be hard though, yuh." He looks at them all coolly, as if he didn't just have a moment there.
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Post by Cate Baxter on Mar 30, 2015 9:21:34 GMT -5
Cate gave Ash a blank stare, "...Paragon don't need no AI." She responded, picking on the only word-like thing she could understand from the engineer's moment. She then turned to Silas, "Well. Whatever Soline says, we do. An' the faster we get it done, sooner we're back on my baby."
Handing over the datapad, she moved to find wherever he shoes had been discarded, turning about on the bed without making any move to get off it. "So we just make a call, find the thingy, get it back. An' we're done. Hey Si-- ya seen my walkin' stick anywhere? I brought it with when we had to leave."
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Post by Argon on Mar 30, 2015 11:06:58 GMT -5
"No offense taken, meatbag." Argon replied to Si as he cocked his head in what he hoped humans would see as a humorous gesture. "As for the return trip, if I'm to be a good boy I'll have to return to Soline and you all are the cheapest ride back, so I suppose I'll be sticking with you for the foreseeable future. Plus, I'm not sure how cozy I want to let the blonde one get with the sprockets of an Etheriel drive..." Argon waited until the others were done with the datapad, found the unlock code for his cuffs and freed himself. He rubbed his wrists absentmindedly as he watched the pilot look for her walking stick.
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Post by Silas Sedgewick on Mar 30, 2015 11:12:10 GMT -5
"What she said. It was creepy enough with the old engineer watching me while I slept--how he got the access code to my room is beyond me--but the last thing the Paragon needs is an AI. I've been on ships with AI, they're always more trouble than they're worth," she finished with a grunt, going to fold her arms again, but realizing at the last second that nope, can't do that.
"It's-- here, right here," she called, kneeling beside the bed and reaching underneath it. "I saw it roll when you flopped." She left it sitting on the bed, then made a face as she looked at herself. "Gearheads be damned, I'm getting on that ship to get my gear."
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Post by Ashleigh Blevins on Mar 30, 2015 11:51:12 GMT -5
Ash blinks slowly, and his voice goes into the pedantic tones of a specialist explaining his trade. "I don't mean an AI for the ship; that'd be superfluous. Just that engine. That beautiful, beautiful engine." His eyes go wistful for a bit before he leans forward, shaking his head.
"Anyhow. Soline says I'm yours, I'm yours. Just tell me what you need me to do, as I'm not much useful for anything but being imposing, when it comes to poncy stuff like this." He grins winningly. "Though I do do that well."
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Post by Cate Baxter on Mar 31, 2015 8:07:57 GMT -5
"Ah-hah!" Cate shouts as she's handed the cane, as if she had been the one to find it. "I don't have the most for gear on there, but gettin' Si's stuff is probably ideal if we run into any trouble. I don't know 'bout you two, but I doubt handcuffs come with any sorta guns."
"An' then I have my winnin' smile for if we run into some less than happy folks. So between the four of us this should be a piece of cake." Setting her weight against the cane, she finally pushed up to her none too impressive height- even if it was more than Argon had. "I'm ready to get back on the Paragon. Even if it's just for a minute." She took two steps to the door before stopping and turning back to the room. "...After I get my shoes."
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Post by Silas Sedgewick on Mar 31, 2015 9:42:11 GMT -5
Silas moved to the door once Cate had her cane, drumming her fingers impatiently against her leg. "I'll be down a hand, but I don't think that'll be much of a problem," she shrugged, her attention fully set on her arm, and how she was going to see about changing into proper field-wear. Plasma had a nasty way of damaging the internal bits more than the external, especially when the Narid are the ones designing the plasma, which several of those pirates were.
Narid know things. They understand how technology works, and how to make it dance exactly to their tune. Uncrumple a subsonic isotope engine here, de-materialize the hydrogen feed there, and attach a magnetized aft radial gamma-wave straightener, and you have a nasty piece of tech that is just as illegal in all civilized space as it is unstable and radioactive. Not that that last bit mattered at all to a Narid, being immune to radiation and all.
Still, the bitch of a gun hurt like . . . like a bitch. It sizzled flesh and what wasn't designed to burn at first entered the bloodstream and burned later, an insidious poison of goop-like fire and radiation. Silas hadn't mentioned that, thinking she might be getting to proper medical treatment soon, but if things wrapped up quickly here she was sure it'd be fine.
The scarring tissue on her arm looked nasty, but was covered. The internal damage was only noticeable by those who knew what they were looking for, or if they paid enough attention to the veins to note they were more of a yellow than they were a blue or a green, under the right lighting.
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Post by Argon on Apr 1, 2015 1:23:32 GMT -5
"I don't really have any gear of importance, as I was planning on traveling light. I'll follow you all to your ship and take a look at my quarters for this journey. I do have quarters, yes?" Argon looked quizzically at the two women. He hoped he wouldn't be forced to share quarters with any of the humans, and as this thought entered his mind he had a stroke of brilliance.
"Of course, I wouldn't mind sharing, but I fear your human sleep schedules may be disturbed by the exhuming of gases my people must undergo every 24 hours. I'm told mammals find it quite disconcerting." He smoothly lied. "The gases react with CO2 in the air and so will dissipate rather quickly, but for a time they can be quite pungent."
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Post by Ashleigh Blevins on Apr 1, 2015 12:09:24 GMT -5
Ash stands slowly, obviously reluctant to get up. "Can't smell worse than Ferrum's industrial zones. I won't give a damn." He grabs his datapad, and, once everyone is headed for the door, picks up Soline's pad, tucking it under his coat with his.
"Besides, it'll give us a chance to get nice and acquainted, little fart." He moves up behind Argon, intentionally looming. "Of course, that assumes the ladies want us bunking together anyhow."
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Post by Silas Sedgewick on Apr 1, 2015 12:17:37 GMT -5
Silas rolled her good shoulder as she waited for Cate to find her shoes. "We'll give you the grand tour once this is all settled, but we've got two forms of living quarters. Three if you're Cate," she said cryptically, right before properly explaining. "There's the main quarters, a private room with a bath and shower and direct feed to Soline, where we get our mission parameters. That's my room," she made sure to add, wanting to make that perfectly clear.
"Then there's the common quarters, beside the engine room. Those babies purr when they're pushed to the limit, and I've only ever heard them roar once, and that's what grounded us for repairs." In other words, the ship was silent. "There's a cot in the engine room last time I checked, and Cate usually bunks in her seat, or uses my room for power naps since I don't sleep much." She didn't seem to have any dark rings around her eyes, nor was she the type for makeup.
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Post by Argon on Apr 2, 2015 13:00:29 GMT -5
"I suppose it's the main quarters for me, then. I'll see what I can do to civilize the place." Argon quickly replied as Si listed the options. It may not be private, but it certainly beat sleeping next to the engine. "I do have a few supplies I'll want to requisition before we set off, as well. Just a few small materials for my artistic endeavors, you see."
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Post by Ashleigh Blevins on Apr 2, 2015 13:04:36 GMT -5
Ash leans in over Argon, still looming. "I'll sleep with the engine, normally. But sometimes I might sleep with you, gasbag. I like a real bed occasionally." His tone is laden with suspicion.
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Post by Silas Sedgewick on Apr 2, 2015 20:37:29 GMT -5
Silas blinked at Argon, lips pursing into a thin line. "You may have misunderstood me. The main quarters is a single room. I'd call it the captain's quarters, but we don't have an official captain. All the same, it's my room, and it has the just the one bed. Your choices are the crew's quarters or the cot in the engine room, though that's better suited for the official gearhead," she shrugged.
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