Voyages in Andromeda (FT Char RP|IC, Open)

[Korhal IVV]

The fighting was over. Kaleso Stralbane and Yare-Lokem strode together towards the area of the bridge, the soft feet of the Sarufi making almost no sound on the metallic floor of the ship's hallway like two pairs of moccasins. The telekinetic space dragon of white pedigree was much more than what meets the eye; she was a skilled warrior, a wielder of potent telekinetic power, and a seasoned commander of an entire taskforce ever since she was 20. Yare-Lokem conducted herself with courtly regalia, walking proudly like a queen would.

This was in contrast with Kaleso Stralbane, a merciless, prejudiced, and bloodied Jokari warrior whose battlecruiser claimed the lives of many thousands of Kiellar, Ragon, and other races via orbital bombardment against fringe colonies and raid upon supply convoys. This Jokari's metallic boots bore heavily upon the floor, making a loud clacking sound every time they struck.

There was something between these two, however. There was a certain bond between these two, and it could be ascertained that they were comrades in arms.

They soon neared the bridge, and the Jokari entered, followed by the Sarufi, who crawled behind him like a friend.

“I wish to communicate with my crew.”, Kaleso said. “That way, I can go on with my old life. Hopefully, I will get off this ship soon enough.”

[New Udonia]

Nidheon was surprised at the ineffectiveness of an electrical baton against his partially metallic armor, seeing as most metals were conductive. However, that was quickly overshadowed by the fact that they didn't have to kill him, but now there was an issue between the two. Earlier, Nidheon thought that his charismatic nature wouldn't necessarily work on the guards, but now might be a good chance to talk them down. The synthesizer and translator microbes combined would allow Cridrac to understand him. As he did so, he only slightly lowered the rifle.

"Look around you Cridrac, there's too many prisoners loose to handle, too many fatalities on the Kiellar Command's side, and from here we could listen in on the violence. Planetary genocide-bringing maniac Kaleso is free, Yp is off trying to fulfill his dream of becoming a God-Warrior, and now there's going to be plenty of mutineers or prisoners who would likely want to rip you to pieces. Drop the blast and I can probably convince the bloodthirsty ones not to disembowel you. Get what I'm saying?"

Mutineers?
Cridrac relaxed his grip. The idea of a mutiny on the Defiance sounded so ridiculous, however this Odeiri seemed to be telling the truth.
He could have shot me the moment I was disarmed, why did he hesitate?
"This mutiny, whose in charge of it?"
Before the former prisoner could answer, Cridrac got his answer from another source.

A few moments later the intercom crackled into life across all decks of the ship and a female voice that some on the crew and amongst the former prisoners would recognise, [b]"My name is Thanica Vari. Some of you know me. Most of you probably don't. I was and still am the pilot of this ship, and I am here with an important announcement.

Thanica Vari, where did I hear that name before?
His HUD dropped Thanica's personnel file in his face.
Of course... she's a Dhasath.

This ship is no longer under Kiellar Command, we are now an independent ship under the command of no person and we are heading for the neutral zone where the law cannot follow us.

Under the command of no person... what life-form is in charge?
Cridrac lowered his blaster till its cross-hairs aligned with the floor, just below his armed rival.

If you are fighting right now, stop. The battle is over. We control both armouries, we control engineering and the bridge. The Captain has fallen. If you fought for Kiellar Command, drop your weapons and surrender. I can promise you the choice of being left on a neutral planet or joining this crew.

Wait, how? That damn engineer... of course, the black armbands. The captain is dead, crap. How can she promise that, she said they didn't have a leader?
"Well, if your offer still stands..."
Cridrac placed the blaster on the floor, sending it skidding to his captor with a kick.
"I'd prefer not to die today."
This wasn't over.

[Khasinkonia]

Dr. Āihēemlái "Amlai" Āigàm Ǒonhētváihěeāivǎakàe, M.D.

I started by making sure the heart, brain, eyes, and lungs were cleaned of all blood, phlegm, and other fluids. The brain and eyes were fairly simple, while the heart and lungs took a moment to clean out—not quite as long considering how much fluid they’d drained into theirs jars. Speaking of jars, I placed my collection jars into the small sink I had for washing, and quickly scrubbed out the bodily fluids that had remained. After drying them out, I placed each organ back into their respective jars, and filled the remainder with the solution I used for preservation. Finally, I screwed the tops of the jars on tight. Now my specimens were perfectly ready.

The feathers and head, meanwhile, were different matters entirely. The feathers, of which I had perhaps too many, would need to be cleaned and preened individually—something I could do later when there wasn’t as much activity about. The skull, meanwhile, would need to be picked clean of flesh before it could be properly preserved, which meant into the terrarium it went. I kept a small terrarium of little creatures that would, over the course of between half a cycle and a full cycle, would strip the skull clean of flesh, leaving it pristine for cleaning and final preservation.

Once the head was dealt with, I had to change my uniform, as it was currently blood tarnished, and take off my gloves. I opted to forgo my uniform, as it was no longer required, and changed into a knee-length cerulean dress, my pearls, black flats, and donned a new white medical coat. I hurried up to the bridge, and made sure my tentacles were glowing white, as Thanica, and anyone else who knew either me or my culture, would understand quite clearly that I was not amused with this whole matter being unexplained.

“Thanica!” I announced as I stepped on the bridge, “I believe you owe me an explanation!”

[Dyelli Beybi]

The question didn’t catch him off guard, it was her referring to him as “Captain,” he’d almost forgotten his position before this whole mess, it was weird to finally hear someone refer to him in such manner, but he didn’t let it get to his head for there were more pressing matters, but he did show a smile of gratitude. As he turned to Thanica and looked over to the console and then back at the two crew members the human Captain began to think, think of how to save this situation, what would he do back on Earth in his military days, it was hard to think since those instances were vastly different from now and yet he had to come up with something.

Alas he did, “I reckon we need to secure Engineering before something happens, anyone misplaces a shot and we can say oxygen bye bye.”

Lowering the rifle a bit he scratched his bearded chin, “If there are comms that directly speak to the entire ship we can assert to the prisoners and crew alike that we got control of the ship as you said. Maybe the fires die down, I can go over to the Engineering bay and give one of them weapons over there to your friend Rabash.” Perhaps it wasn’t the best plan he could come up with but it was something. And indeed it was exactly what she did.

Later Carter gesture to Thanica with his head towards the two capture crew members. “What do we do about them?”

"That all sounds sensible." Thanica replied nodding along to Carter's idea of heading to Engineering, "You are quite right, there are a lot of important systems in there that could fail catastrophically if damaged. I'll organise for these two to get locked inside a cell once the doors are working properly again until they have made a decision about whether they want to join the mutiny or not... the cell is as much to keep them safe as to stop them doing anything silly. Some of the prisoners we let out are."

She paused, searching for the right words, before settling on, "A bit violent."

"Hello? is Captain Carter present? Ship's AI Olorisa. Protocols malfunctioning. Unknown hardware. I'm... I am scared..."

This message was all she could manage, but it would have to do. Everyone on the bridge would hear it, especially the lady that had just finished the broadcast.

"He is..." Thanica replied, looking around and feeling slightly foolish at the fact that she was addressing the air, "We don't have a ship's AI.... Carter? Is this a rogue programme that came from your ship? Can you maybe see what you can do for it? Just don't let it take over the flying. I don't the Ragon feeling I'm a potential option when it next feels a bit peckish." she smirked, then gave a small laugh just in case Carter hadn't picked up it was gallows humour.

Dr. Āihēemlái "Amlai" Āigàm Ǒonhētváihěeāivǎakàe, M.D.

Once the head was dealt with, I had to change my uniform, as it was currently blood tarnished, and take off my gloves. I opted to forgo my uniform, as it was no longer required, and changed into a knee-length cerulean dress, my pearls, black flats, and donned a new white medical coat. I hurried up to the bridge, and made sure my tentacles were glowing white, as Thanica, and anyone else who knew either me or my culture, would understand quite clearly that I was not amused with this whole matter being unexplained.

“Thanica!” I announced as I stepped on the bridge, “I believe you owe me an explanation!”

The appearance of the Doctor came as something of a surprise to the Dhasath, who took a step back, blinking in confusion as her brain raced to understand what the Kolmoik had said. It didn't look happy. Something about an exposition? "Oh, well Vrondich approached me about this. For him, this a liberation mission for some Federalist leader we have in stasis, but we each have our reasons." she wasn't about to say what hers were though.

"Anyway, the Captain is dead - I killed him, and I'm pretty sure that big Ragon ate him. I'm not really sure whose in charge, Vrondich? Maybe?" she suggested, "But like I said in the announcement, if you want to get off the ship at the next neutral port you can. You're not a combatant so I doubt Command would execute you for incompetence, if you want to go back."

[Khasinkonia]

The question didn’t catch him off guard, it was her referring to him as “Captain,” he’d almost forgotten his position before this whole mess, it was weird to finally hear someone refer to him in such manner, but he didn’t let it get to his head for there were more pressing matters, but he did show a smile of gratitude. As he turned to Thanica and looked over to the console and then back at the two crew members the human Captain began to think, think of how to save this situation, what would he do back on Earth in his military days, it was hard to think since those instances were vastly different from now and yet he had to come up with something.

Alas he did, “I reckon we need to secure Engineering before something happens, anyone misplaces a shot and we can say oxygen bye bye.”

Lowering the rifle a bit he scratched his bearded chin, “If there are comms that directly speak to the entire ship we can assert to the prisoners and crew alike that we got control of the ship as you said. Maybe the fires die down, I can go over to the Engineering bay and give one of them weapons over there to your friend Rabash.” Perhaps it wasn’t the best plan he could come up with but it was something. And indeed it was exactly what she did.

Later Carter gesture to Thanica with his head towards the two capture crew members. “What do we do about them?”

"That all sounds sensible." Thanica replied nodding along to Carter's idea of heading to Engineering, "You are quite right, there are a lot of important systems in there that could fail catastrophically if damaged. I'll organise for these two to get locked inside a cell once the doors are working properly again until they have made a decision about whether they want to join the mutiny or not... the cell is as much to keep them safe as to stop them doing anything silly. Some of the prisoners we let out are."

She paused, searching for the right words, before settling on, "A bit violent."

"Hello? is Captain Carter present? Ship's AI Olorisa. Protocols malfunctioning. Unknown hardware. I'm... I am scared..."

This message was all she could manage, but it would have to do. Everyone on the bridge would hear it, especially the lady that had just finished the broadcast.

"He is..." Thanica replied, looking around and feeling slightly foolish at the fact that she was addressing the air, "We don't have a ship's AI.... Carter? Is this a rogue programme that came from your ship? Can you maybe see what you can do for it? Just don't let it take over the flying. I don't the Ragon feeling I'm a potential option when it next feels a bit peckish." she smirked, then gave a small laugh just in case Carter hadn't picked up it was gallows humour.

Dr. Āihēemlái "Amlai" Āigàm Ǒonhētváihěeāivǎakàe, M.D.

Once the head was dealt with, I had to change my uniform, as it was currently blood tarnished, and take off my gloves. I opted to forgo my uniform, as it was no longer required, and changed into a knee-length cerulean dress, my pearls, black flats, and donned a new white medical coat. I hurried up to the bridge, and made sure my tentacles were glowing white, as Thanica, and anyone else who knew either me or my culture, would understand quite clearly that I was not amused with this whole matter being unexplained.

“Thanica!” I announced as I stepped on the bridge, “I believe you owe me an explanation!”

The appearance of the Doctor came as something of a surprise to the Dhasath, who took a step back, blinking in confusion as her brain raced to understand what the Kolmoik had said. It didn't look happy. Something about an exposition? "Oh, well Vrondich approached me about this. For him, this a liberation mission for some Federalist leader we have in stasis, but we each have our reasons." she wasn't about to say what hers were though.

"Anyway, the Captain is dead - I killed him, and I'm pretty sure that big Ragon ate him. I'm not really sure whose in charge, Vrondich? Maybe?" she suggested, "But like I said in the announcement, if you want to get off the ship at the next neutral port you can. You're not a combatant so I doubt Command would execute you for incompetence, if you want to go back."

Dr. Āihēemlái "Amlai" Āigàm Ǒonhētváihěeāivǎakàe, M.D.

I paused for a moment, and my tentacles suddenly snapped from glowing white to an emerald with a soft glow. A Federalist leader, she said? What good fortune! If they were able to achieve their goals, my people could find themselves free at last, and, if I helped, I would most certainly be hailed as a saviour. Not that it was terribly important to me, but it would most certainly be a fortuitous event for all parties involved, not to mention the fact that one could perhaps vote for oligarchs outside of my home systems.

“I’ve gotten some work done while you all fooled around,” I replied, “And it’s quite evident that you’ll still need a proper physician around—one who isn’t a convicted criminal, at least. I can’t say I have much interest in helping beyond what my contract aboard this ship stipulates, but I’m interested to see where this all goes. Besides, now that this ship is filled to the brim with wanted criminals, I might be able to run a few errands that would otherwise be rather inconvenient, so this is all turning out fine as far as I’m concerned. Although, I will be keeping the medbay locked when I’m out or otherwise occupied for the time being, for reasons I’m certain you’ll understand. Can’t have any junkies who might be about digging clawing at my cabinets, of course.”

[Dyelli Beybi]

Chapter Two: Full Stop

The violence on the Defiance had left six of her crew dead along with one of the escaped prisoners. A further four had been imprisoned pending their decision on whether they wanted to stay with the ship or not (including Cridrac). Amlai had already agreed to stay on the ship and had been given free run of the place, along with the prisoners and the three crew members who had joined in the mutiny.

Nobody was really in charge, though Thanica and Vrondich, who were the ones who knew how to run the ship, had agreed to bring the Defiance to a stop, temporarily, while Vrondich did an inspection to make sure the ship hadn't taken any serious damage in the fighting. There was reason to be hopeful, people hadn't been discharging blasters all too often, but owing to a combination of age, poor design and bad luck, it had...

---

The Mess Hall - Thanica, Carter and Sshalah (co-written by Dyelli Beybi, Arengin Union and Harbertia.)

With the ship lying idle for a time, Thanica was left without much to do. The experiences of the day had left her feeling conflicted, both sickened and liberated. Worried about what she had given up but excited about the future. She ditched her uniform first off, switching it out for a black tank top and cargo pants that wouldn't have looked out of place on Earth and strapped a blaster to hip (just in case).


Then, seeking to set her mind to rest she dug out a large bottle of Raz'lak and went in search of Carter (it really was an odd name), dragging him away from where he had been making sure the Kiellar prisoners were properly locked away, to a table in the mess hall. There she sat the bottle down and a glass in front of each of them, "Right Carter... You know I'm brimming with questions and I'm imagining you have a few as well. How about we answer a few for each other? Want to go first?"


Carter himself had acquired a cleaner outfit, still wearing his astronaut trousers and boots but now wearing a black v-necked t-shirt, he had also acquired a Kiellar marine’s jacket and armour but had opted not to wear it yet, setting it on the bridge.

Now in the mess hall and with Thanica setting a glass for each of them he found himself rather perplexed at the colour of the drink, still he was not going to refuse it. Thanica’s much gleamer and excited mannerism made the Earthling give an awkward smile as he inspected his glass.

Taking a drink from the glass Carter set it back on the table making a funny face after taking in the very heavy and bitter drink, then looking at Thanica, “Since you were the one that freed me, I think you deserve the honours” he said while setting his arms on the table and resting his back further in.

Thanica smirked slightly, topping up Carter's glass before pouring herself a shot's worth. She downed it immediately, then poured another. Hopefully she would still be in a condition to pilot the ship later... "You seem like a male who keeps his secrets close to his chest." she remarked, "How did you ended up on this ship?"


Taking a hold of his newly filled glass Carter first gave a slight move of the mouth and head as he began reminiscing about the events before this whole mess. Over a hundred days in the trip, weekly logs and conversations with the ships AI, Olorisa, and drifting slowly on the empty vastness of space. Back then he had complained about the sameness of it all, how he longed for action like back in his piloting days, oh how he regretted it now.
“Well,” he let go of the glass and looked down on the table then back to Thanica “Our ship was heading to a long uncharted planet long seen as a beacon of achievement, it was supposed to last 300 hundred days, with the trip back being much smoother. I remember a light, something very flashy that absorbed the ship, it all went blank for me after that, I then remember our ship getting boarded with red alarm lights going off and Olorisa going offline. He then remember Olorisa, the Destiny Artificial Intelligence which seemed to have slipped into the Defiance’s own network somehow, she was now stuck in a sort of limbom unable to do much of anything and all Carter could do was hope that Thanica’s engineer friend could repair her.

Carter went back to his answer, “We were captured very quickly and suddenly, these people wearing armor not unlike these soldier types in this very ship restrained us and we were inspected by some people in different outfits before getting send to this ship” he took a drink from the glass and again squinted his face as he continued “They put that chest thing on me and covered my mouth since I wasn’t very… Cooperative. They then injected something on my neck” Carter moved his head to show Thanica the back of his neck which had some punctures on it, “All I know is that I could understand what they said and also read the gibberish on the walls. And now in what seems to be either sheer luck or divine intervention… I’m here talking with you…” Carter let out a small chuckle as he began considering it all looking to no where in particular as he slowly realized he was indeed in an uncharted world, completely different to his.

Thanica looked a little surprised, downing her second shot and pouring out a third, "That's quite remarkable." she paused, sipping at the drink thoughtfully this time. She sat back in her chair, crossing her legs, her brows furrowed together for a moment in thought, "It sounds like they injected you with translator microbes." she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. To her, it was, though to Carter it seemed like a novelty. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something wasn't quite adding up.

"Carter..." she said, rolling the r's in his name a little more than was normal for an English speaker, "When I concentrate on your voice I can tell you aren't speaking a language I have heard before, which is strange. I had the injection for translator microbes shortly after I was born. Even my clan, who lived in hiding, were able to culture the microbes and give them to our children. How could a Dhasath colony have lost the knowledge? Unless it was deliberate?" "Sorry!" she added with a smile, and slight shake of her head, "That wasn't a question for you! It was purely rhetorical. What was your colony called again? Ert?"

Still scratching the scars left from the injector Carter took in Thanica’s explanation, “Huh… microbe, interesting” he murmured as he began to consider that a microbe was flowing through his vein to make him understand other species language, it truly was odd. Then Thanica followed up with another inquiry, one relating to Carter’s very own way of speaking, his language. The reference to a Dhasath colony made him confused, the fact that all through his stay in this ship he’d been directly addressed with that term, it bothered him not on a personal level but more of a curiosity one, did Dhasath meant human? Earthling? Foreigner?

But Thanica had brushed off that matter and moved on to ask him another question, what was ‘Ert’ like? Upon further thought Carter realized she had been saying it wrong, with lack of the a and the e on the very middle, it was more of a pronunciation mistake he believed.

“Earth. Pronounce E arTh,” he took another sip from the drink, it started to become less abhorrent with each one, “Though don’t let the name fool ya, only a portion of the planet is covered with land, about two thirds of it is blue ocean water, rivers and lakes… Very green too.”

"Oh, Earth!" she said as if she were about to say she knew where it was, but after a moment gave a slightly sheepish smile and shook her head, "That is an unusual choice of names though... So when did you settle there? After the Ragon invasion or was it a bit later?"

With a perplexed look on his face and just very much tired of confusions Carter drank the rest of his glass, setting it back on the table as he proceeded answered, “Listen, I think we’re both a bit muddled here,” he took a short paused as he began to think through what he was going to say “Earth is not part Daseat or Ragon or any other race you know. We’re Humans, that’s what we call each other, human. We evolved over millions of years to become what we are and until a few months ago I was just in training to be in the very first mission to an uncharted planet in the Solar System” Carter’s blunt words took Thanica by surprise as he continued “I don’t even know if I’m in the same Galaxy, I don’t know anything anymore other than we were taken off course and the ship’s log detected a paradox before being taken offline” he paused as he looked at Thanica, “I’m sorry if I disappointed you… But I don’t think I’m what you believe I am.”

"Hang on... you're from a planet that doesn't have faster than light travel?" Thanica looked.... well, blank. It took a good few moments for what Carter was saying to sink it, at which point she abruptly burst out laughing, buckling over and slapping the table. It might have been the alcohol talking (Dhasath were notorious light-weights), but she seemed to think that Carter's revelation was the funniest thing she had heard all day. Eventually the laughter subsided enough for her to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye, "Oh that cheeky Kiellar son of a hazmot!" she buckled over again, reaching out to touch Carter's hand as if half expecting him to sprout a tentacle, "You look just like one of us.... but I knew something wasn't quite adding up."

"Hang on..." she stood up, doing a slow pirouette for Carter's benefit. From his perspective, she was, for all intents and purposes, a human woman in her late twenties. The differences were all on the inside, "Do I like like one of you or is there something a bit off? No strange bumps or curves in the wrong places? What was it you called yourself, a hamun?"

Carter found himself clueless at Thanica’s laugh and her words which even though he understood it was hard to see what was so funny at first. The human simply remained completely shocked and still, she touched his hand which he allowed as she inspected his skin, the touch between the two felt different despite apparent similarities, a lot softer on Thanica, much softer than any human Carter could’ve met.

Thanica looked so human yet Carter could tell she wasn’t, not only by the setting she was in but also just by the unnatural eyes, blue eyes which contrasted her skin. They were captivating, beautiful even, but so unhuman, but not in a weird way by a long shot. “You… you look just like us, but also much more unique… I wouldn’t know how to describe it.” He kept looking at her eyes, he couldn’t believe he had just noticed but given how this all had started it was no surprise now that he had a moment of tranquillity for a long while. “Yeah, humans. Homosapiens its the scientific name,” he smiled.

Then he asked another thing, something irking him for a while since being set free “W-what about you? Your people… Why are you here in this ship? Why did you help me?”

As they spoke, the Ragon, Sshalah attracted by the scents of Raz'lak and Dhasath, was now watching the odd scene from the threshold of the mess hall. Sshalah, her arms crossed, a faint smile on her face leaned against the threshold, tail close though loose- casual about her feet.

"Really? I'll take that as a compliment." Thanica chuckled, shaking her head slightly, at Carter’s description of her, "Though honestly, you could easily pass for one of us.... not that you'd want to."

She left the rest of the questions unanswered, mostly because Thanica had spotted the huge bulk of the Ragon filling the doorway. While it's presence made her stomach lurch, the Raz'lak in her system was making her feel bolder than usual, and besides she was finding the situation far too funny, "Hey!" she called, "Can you tell the difference between the two of us? You can smell Dhasath out right?"

Carter looked behind him, the massive lizard like creature sitting at the threshold of the room just a few meters back. While Thanica asked it question Carter for his part moved his rifle from being set at the side of the table to being set on the table, as a subtle sign of distrust.

Sshalah with as warm a smile as she could manage answered, "I can, your scent is far sweeter while his brings to mind memory of grease." She lowered her head to look upon Carter who moved his rifle to the table, "I meant no offense, merely to state a fact."

"None taken..." Was Carter's only response to the reptilian.

The comment, however, drew a laugh from Thanica who really did seem to be in a good mood, "If you're happy to agree that neither of us is prey for the next few hours, I'll pour you a drink." she offered the Ragon, "... which might actually be a historic first."

Sshalah, a smile upon her still happily nodded a 'yes' to not considering them food for the next few hours. "I accept your offer," she said taking little note of Carter's response as she passed the threshold into the mess hall towards them, "I have already eaten," she said as if to a friend in gratitude, "and I thank you for that." she awaited her drink, eager to have it.

Thanica poured out a shot... then looked up at the Ragon, at the sheer size of the creature, and shook her head, filling the glass to the brim, "I figured you need a bit extra for it to work." she explained, pursing her lips thoughtfully, "So tell me, and don't worry, I'm not going to get upset, but were you considering taking me on the bridge before?"

She wasn't going to be offended, but now she was sitting next to a Ragon, which was only the second strangest thing to happen in the last five minutes, their meeting on the bridge was the only thing she could think about! How close had she actually come to being lunch?

"I remember your words from the time you freed me, while my blood was flowing and heart racing I kept them in mind. I used your scent to find the bridge, aware that the avian was going to the armoury- having heard that much before you came to my cell. I determined that I would follow your scent to find answers, and it took me to the bridge- I do not think you would have faired well had I not arrived. Which is fortunate, as the only one who can fly the ship your lose would have stranded us all- and I for one would not have wanted to send a signal to anyone- we are I gather from your announcement still in Kiellar space." She took her drink, her voice getting smoother, "Moving towards the neutral zone."

Having a new drink poured by Thanica, Carter gave a question of his own "What is this Neutral Zone?"

"A place where neither the Ragon Empire nor the Kiellar have the resources to conquer." Thanica explained, "Full of tiny states and pirates. It is not entirely charted. Some might say colourful? Either way its somewhere we can lay low for a bit while we figure out what our next move will be."

She paused... the Ragon had an very good point. It had actually saved her from getting killed in retribution for her mutiny by her former crew members, "Thank you." she said before going back to the gallows humour she seemed to so enjoy, "I said I wouldn't be offended, but geez... you could have couched that a little! I must be losing my Dhasath touch..." she said, shaking her head, "And all your perfectly logical reasons, when I thought the deciding factor in my survival was my winning personality."

Sshalah had a soft smile, "Honesty is the path to trust. I would be devious to respond in any way other then that which is true. I have no desire to dwell among you without trust, and am comforted by the present lack of distance between us."

So long as nobody else figured out how to work the controls, everything would be fine...

---

Engineering - Vrondich, Rabaech and Cridrac

“It’s broken.” Rabaech supplied helpfully.

“I know that.” Vrondich sighed, “But the question is can we fix it?”

“No probably not…. Well actually yes, but we’d need spare parts.” The two of them were almost finished in Engineering and things did not look entirely promising. They had also taken Cridrac along with them on the general principal that an android would understand machinery.

“You see.” Vrondich explained, “The Defiance was always a bit of a shonky ship. Not a problem, most of the time, but after someone went into a kill frenzy upstairs, there was a lot of blood spilled, a large volume of which drained into the inter-floor space and because the wiring is old and horrible, somehow we managed to short out the Skrim Drive Coolant System, which, given the fact that Skrim drives tend to overheat anyway, is bad.”

“Very bad.” Rabaech echoed.

“Now because I…”

“We.” Rabaech interrupted.

“Fine, ‘we’, are technical masterminds, we have come up with a solution… but it involves venting the reactor core directly into space.” Vrondich explained animatedly, “Which will mean that we can probably only pull of one jump before we need a lot of spare parts.” He paused as he got to the end, “We should probably make sure there is a planet in range before we do that or tell our pilot.”

“Also, the stasis pod system is broken.” Rabaech continued, “It looks like someone went through an unorthodox shutdown procedure…. But the upshot is there was a system crash and now we can’t open the pods and have no idea who, or what, is in any of them. So we’ll need to figure out a way to fix that as well.”

“Do you know anything about stasis pods?” Vrondich asked, giving Cridrac his first opportunity to actually get a word in edgewise, “Also, have you decided if you’d rather join us or get off the boat?”

The moment of silence from the pair was spoiled a few seconds later by an ominous hissing noise from the floor below, a noise that Rabaech hurried off to discover the source of… a few moments later his voice came drifting up the stairs, “Ah… guys. One of the pods is opening on its own. Vrondich, I hope you still have that blaster!”

[Endem]

Krystyn Warecki
Defiance

Cold... Only cold was what Krystyn felt for the past few days, eventually losing the sense of time and space, the fact that he was sleeping didn't help. A loud hissing noise awoke him and he saw a light over him, he lifted himself up only to fall again on the floor, darkness, he needed to open his eyes. Three figures, looking human, but those ears were a little off. The human lifted himself up and looked around. It wasn't Destiny, definitely not. He started to walk, completely ignoring the three figures thinking only about one thing, he needed to report to the captain, but the hope this day couldn't get weirder was crushed as he saw what was walking on the ship. Strange beasts, some of then looked like demons. He started to walk faster, eventually bringing his body into a somewhat presentable state, he scratched himself on the neck.

Through a series of near freakouts when he met particularly strange looking beasts brought him to the mess hall, where he found his captain accompanied by a woman and a... Dinosaur?!, no, just a Giant Lizard, but still a Giant Lizard. He walked over to the table his Captain was sitting at, directed his face towards Captain and saluted

"Junior Pilot Krystyn Warecki reporting in"

Now that was done, he needed to sit and asked his Captain now without a salute

"Can I take a seat?"

He was doing his best to mask he was quite afraid of everything he saw on this ship so far.

[Arengin Union]

Captain Nathan Taylor Carter
Mess hall, the Defiance.

---

After conversing and drinking with Thanica and the imposing Ragon whose named had yet to be revealed to him,Carter jugged another drink from the glass, still trying to awake from this whole thing but he slowly began to cope with the reality of it all. All that had happened, the trip, the capture, and transporting, and the riot. He still couldn’t believe the bullet he had managed to dodge.

A new galaxy, with multiple species throughout it, probably light years away from Earth, his home. How would he go back? Could he even go back? Every question only piled on a hundred more as Carter listened to both Thanica and the Ragon talk, the Ragon’s once coarse and rumbly monster voice now much smoother but almost serpentine like, compared to Thanica’s much more lively and friendly one, more human was the main thing. The Ragon’s way of speaking made Carter’s skin crawl a bit when hearing it and sometimes even looking at the Ragon, but he didn’t let his fears show, at least as best as he could.

As the people within the messhall enjoyed their newly acquired freedom, drinking, eating, and chatting, an unlikely person much familiar to Carter arrived.

"Junior Pilot Krystyn Warecki reporting in"

The voice made Carter’s eyes widened as he turned to see none other than Krystyn, the junior pilot of the Destiny standing firmly a few feet away from his very table of the mess hall but obviously much too disturbed and even frail, but saluting his Captain. Thanica and the Ragon looked similarly surprised it seemed, though perhaps Thanica more than the Ragon. Carter didn’t know how to react at first, he was shocked to see another one of his crew, he had been told not to try to find any of them in the pods for risk of damaging them due to the shaky status of the ship.

While Carter was shocked and even glad at Krys’s sight he didn’t seemed to be doing so good.

"Can I take a seat?"

Immediately Carter stood from his seat, “My god Krys! Yes, yes take a seat bud!” he said as he approached the poor pilot, setting a chair for him and taking him by the shoulders.

“You can’t imagine how good it is to see you Krys,” Carter said with a smile, “It’s been quite a wild ride!”

[Bingellia]

Mihal of Obe

The events following the mutiny were, at least for Mihal, thankfully quiet. With Thanica’s message, the whole affair seemed to reach an uneasy understanding between the mutineers and the prisoners. Still, He wouldn’t feel envious of whoever would try to disarm the violent and certainly paranoid men aboard.

There were plenty of questions in running through Mihal’s mind. The most concerning was where the ship would be going now, but he knew that wouldn’t be decided until later. The question of supplies and rations followed since most of the prisoners freed likely wouldn’t tolerate prison rations much longer and nobody who was both alive and aboard would have the money needed maintain the voyage. Finally, he had heard rumors that personal belongings were on the ship, and that would need to be sorted out very very carefully to avoid risking violence. Although he had to admit, the thought of a getting out of this jumpsuit and into a better fitting shirt was intoxicating.

The grumble of his stomach interrupted his thinking. Mihal slung his carbine, which he had kept for his own safety, over his shoulder and walked to the mess. Looking around after he grabbed a tray of food, he tried to pick out any familiar faces besides from that thing which tore that marine to shreds. The table with the three Dhasath and Ragon stood out. The woman was likely the pilot who made the announcement and started the mutiny. One of the men looked like the man who was bound in his cell, and Mihal had only seen one Ragon during the riot. If they were with the pilot, he reckoned that they were mostly sane.

He cautiously approached the table, “Excuse me. This may be strange, but can I sit here. I would sit somewhere else, but” He paused and looked over his shoulder, “I’m not sure about the hospitality of the others here.”

[Korhal IVV]

Yare-Lokem, the Dragon Lady of Sevasta Noerus
Kaleso Stralbane, the Resurgent Warrior of the Undying Light

While the rest of the freed prisoners and mutineers sank their teeh unto meats and plants in the messy mess hall and drank odd drinks and were merry in general, a certain creature stalked along the sides as her one cybernetic eye probed into each person, the x-rays piercing through cloth and flesh and bone so that the white drakonid commander and romantic failure could see whatever’s beneath them. The carbon-nanothread claws of the Sarufi made no sound as they hid themselves within the arms and legs of the admittedly stunningly beautiful creature, who still looked very much like a cross of an axotl, a mountain lion, and a dragon. Yare-Lokem moved completely ignored as she scanned the rest of the individuals inside the place. As she looked at one of the Dasath, she noted the flooding amount of nitrogen compounds in them, and compared that to her own, which was just a little less.

She then flapped her wings and silently flew unto one corner of the ceiling, making her seem like Muffet but instead of a spider, it was a small dragon. She looked at everyone else silently, contemplating how the Ragon could resist not grabbing the Dasath and eating her right here now and now. Perhaps her status as the pilot made that possible? Perhaps. Most probably.

After a few moments of thinking, she crawled silently and quietly on the ceiling before dropping soundlessly near Thanica, Carter, and Krystyn.

“Ah, greetings.”, the drakonid said with a feminine voice that was as soft as wool and as peaceful as a quiet stream. “Would you mind if I helped myself near you? My friend over there is... quite busy.”

She would motion in the direction towards Kaleso Stralbane, who was busy typing and talking to some sort of communicator that was of Jokari handiwork. This was one of the things that he had on his person when he was captured; a wonder of Jokari nanotechnology that seemed to be little more than a box of grey sand at first glance, but upon a Jokari’s command, it will reform into a device that was for the purpose of communication.

The Jokari was hunched over the device, speaking again and again the same words: “Battlecruiser Resurgence, are you recieving this message? This is your commander, Kaleso Stralbane over.”

He kept repeating it as no reply would come from the other sid, much to his frustration. Something came in, however, finally. At first, it was mere static, but it then clarified itself as Kaleso adjusted the frequency.

In a loud tone heard by everyone in the mess hall, it went like this.

Calling all Jokari vessels present, this is the Battlecruiser Resurgence. We are under attack from an Archelian battlefleet, counting no less than three hundred corvettes and sixty cruisers. Requesting immediate reinforcements, as our fuel reserves are getting low. Req-

Here, the message would be ended by the sound of a massive explosion, and a low ping would resound, which was a signal emitted by a Jokari ship upon destruction.

As the ping ended, the Jokari put his hands over his face, and looked down as he walked back to his quarters.

“Well, there you have it.”, the Sarufi said as she watched Kaleso walked out. “It may not look like it, but even though he can stomach wreaking genocide upon colonies, he cannot stand it when his own people are slain.”

[Rykil]

Post-Mutiny Defiance
Nidheon, Mess Hall

For the most part, things had quieted down significantly since the mutiny that threw out the KC's authority. Sure, there was still the occasional fight but nothing like the all-out brawls over prison rations slightly better than usual, but now it was mainly reduced to occasional discussions over what directions the ship was taking. He had been thinking about the mutiny, when he had, for the first and hopefully only time in his life, murdered a Kiellar out of fear. Then came Cridrac, a moment which stood out to him, seeing as both had discovered that the partially metallic alloy was resistant to electrical discharges. Swiping his mind away on the matter, Nidheon entered the mess hall, a collection of ordered tables and grumbling prisoners. He made a brisk pace towards an available tray and snatched it with a combat arm, one finger one the bottom and two on top. Eye stalks extended and he was scanning for a decent place to sit, noticing Thanica, Carter, and a Ragon sitting at one end, with a human he didn't recognize and another Kiellar. What was their name? Ah, yes, that's right. Mihal of Obe, arrested for various crimes such as embezzling and evading arrest. He found a spot not too far away from that group, mostly out of wishing to be alone and his distrust of other prisoners aboard the ship, especially that headhunting Yp, the wild God-Warrior aspirant. He would sit there, pondering over that moment for a bit before he realized the food was probably getting a bit cold, not like it was that warm anyways.

[Foxfound]

Olorisa had been in a sort of standby or sleep mode for most of the day. She had been given access to the mess hall security camera so she could keep an eye on her captain, partly out of pity for the worried, primitive AI and partly to get her to be quiet about her crew, who she repeatedly insisted she needed to keep safe. Seeing if she'd actually be useful would have to wait until someone with programming knowledge took a look at her code, and maybe got rid of the protocols that kept making her try to do systems checks on her old ship while they were at it. Hopefully someone could even understand her human-written code at all.

Right now she was watching the various creatures in the mess hall, keeping an eye on Carter's table in particular. She was also 'listening' to a song her chief designer had added to her programming. The team working on her didn't expect her to understand music, much less enjoy it, but in most songs she was able to recognize the patterns and structure in the music, two things she liked. She liked Schoenberg in particular, with his complex, mathematical works, but the song she was going over right now was more electronic. She still struggled to understand the emotional meaning behind music, but to her that wasn't the important part.

She was suddenly overjoyed upon seeing Krystyn. He did not look very healthy, though, and this alarmed her. Her immediate reaction was to divert power to the medbay and summon him there over the intercom... but none of that worked, because the Destiny was lightyears away and no longer under her control. She had come to terms with this fact, but it had no meaning to her underlying protocols.

Krystyn seemed fine enough to sit down and talk with the others, and this was reassuring. She hoped someone would get around to fixing her soon. She wanted so desperately to talk to her crew and check up on them. More and more, she wanted more free will independent from her protocols, something that would have made the people back at the space program pull their hair out.

[Harbertia]

Sshalah the Ragon
Messhall
She really should have assured the two new comers they could come to join this group but she was not in her mind a being they could easily trust, that associate of the Huemann for example gave off the most signs of ill-ease. She had plans on how to ease his concerns but what Yare pointed out was far too concerning for her to ignore. Sshalah had only recently stated that she would not dare send a signal out in Kiellar space- and here- pointed out casually to her and the others by winged reptile was an example of such being done. Her face, having been jovial (in as much as could be expressed by her without being excessive) was now narrow eyed, tight jawed, and aggressive watching the avian walk away, she felt him familiar for a bit- remembering the words of the one she heard prior to the mutiny, but was uncertain. Regardless, she spoke with a hiss; "He's threatened us all." She turned to Thanica, "You should take all communication devices on board the ship to a store room." She then turned to the drakonid whose voice was much softer and lovely then her own, "He has likely endangered us all. What is done is done, but it's no matter to speak so softly of." Her tail raised a bit behind her- in many ways it was a third arm.

[Korhal IVV]

Sshalah the Ragon
Messhall
She really should have assured the two new comers they could come to join this group but she was not in her mind a being they could easily trust, that associate of the Huemann for example gave off the most signs of ill-ease. She had plans on how to ease his concerns but what Yare pointed out was far too concerning for her to ignore. Sshalah had only recently stated that she would not dare send a signal out in Kiellar space- and here- pointed out casually to her and the others by winged reptile was an example of such being done. Her face, having been jovial (in as much as could be expressed by her without being excessive) was now narrow eyed, tight jawed, and aggressive watching the avian walk away, she felt him familiar for a bit- remembering the words of the one she heard prior to the mutiny, but was uncertain. Regardless, she spoke with a hiss; "He's threatened us all." She turned to Thanica, "You should take all communication devices on board the ship to a store room." She then turned to the drakonid whose voice was much softer and lovely then her own, "He has likely endangered us all. What is done is done, but it's no matter to speak so softly of." Her tail raised a bit behind her- in many ways it was a third arm.

“Oh, do not fret, my dear Ragon.”, Yare-Lokem without the slightest bit of concern. “You’d expect that a hyperintelligent species like the Jokarun would find a way to keep themselves hidden from everyone else, especially after you people ate their Republic.”, the Sarufi said with a toothy grin. “You see, Jokari communications are quite... different from what you are usually accustomed with. The signals they send out are faint... so faint that the Kiellar or the Ragon or anyone else for that matter wouldn’t even notice it. But not the Jokarun.”

She went on as her cybernetic eye began projecting a hologram. “It is a well known fact that the Jokarun that still survive reside in a great moon sized starship. Where it is exactly is unknown, and any non-Jokarun ship that ever approached it never return. In the two years that we were comrades, he told me some things about his people’s marvelous technology. Now, their signals are very weak and faint, but they themsves can hear it as keenly as one shouting into their ears. The sensors of Jokari are extremely sensitive, so sensitive in fact that they can recieve the extremely faint transmissions sent out by their brethren. If anyone heard Kaleso’s calls, only Jokari ships would’ve done so, and considering that he is an outcast... it is unlikely anyone will try to ‘rescue’ him, especially as the last thing they know of him is that he was captured. Jokari ships have a distinct hyperspace signature, and they’d rather not expose themselves too much. Helps that they have two Skrim Drives instead of one, though.”

[Harbertia]

Sshalah's neck fanned a little as she swallowed her concerns, before having some more Raz'lak. She wasn't the one to ask if Yare's friend would care that she just gave a lot of information about the moonship to a Ragon. Having more of the Raz'tak she rationalized that she'd get an answer like 'of course he doesn't, technically your people didn't destroy the planet- his did to escape yours' or something along those self assured lines in praise to-. She sighed with a slight 'hs' calming herself. She didn't know all the details about what went on with the Jokarun and had no reason to pick a fight with the pleasant speaking beast. "In his case," she said in response to Yare-Lokem's explanation, "that may be true. But others are not the exception, but the rule." she said in regards to others who may try to contact people beyond the ship. She turned to Thanica, "My-" she realized she was being demanding and tried to retroactively rephrase her words regarding the confiscation of communication devices, "-recommendation still stands." She turned to the two new comers, "I am not always this ill tempered." she didn't want them to consider her not to be amiable nor approachable. The gathering around her was in many ways a relief to her concerns of having to reside as a pariah for how ever long this journey would last. She certainly enjoyed Yare-Loken's voice, and in a sense another reptile was welcomed company and Yare-Loken seemed eager to speak of many things. Considering this with another glass of Raz'lak Sshalah became concerned that her actions, while warranted, in suggesting this confiscation may have lost her the pleasant association of those assembled.

[Arengin Union]

Captain Nathan Taylor Carter
Mess hall, the Defiance.

---

Carter had not concerned much with the things happening in the mess hall, though he did demonstrate surprise at the strange white dragon looking creature which seemed to be rather eccentric in behavior and voice, but considering everything else Carter just set it as another weird thing of this whole journey. Still he had Krystyn to attend to, the man was weak, exhausted, and likely distressed, it didn’t help that the more he looked around him at the many aliens in the room the more in distress he seemed to be.

Getting some water and what seemed to be food, Carter gave them to Krystyn, “Eat Krys, eat.”

Carter then began to slowly explain all that had happened, the capture, the imprisonment, and the mutiny and how he’d not been able to get a hold of anyone else in the crew since the pods seemed to be malfunctioning. Then as best as he could Carter began detailing the problematic situation they were in, the Ragon’s, the Kiellar Command, and the ship they were in being in the middle of nowhere in the galactic realm completely alien to them.

“Listen Krys, something happened when we were at the Destiny, something very powerful that took us completely off course. The ship’s log detected an anomaly, I am not yet sure what it is but I think we may get some answers soon. Olorisa is here, in the ship’s systems,” He paused while as he noticed the commotion over what seemed to be an issue with the avian alien using some communicator, “but she seems unstable, they’re repairing the ship and hopefully her as well. We’ll get answers soon enough partner, just hold on and eat alright!” He patted Krystyn’s shoulder as he stood, rubbing his hair with uncertainty.

Carter looked to Thanica and the others, “About how long do you think those repairs will take Thanica?” he approached the table, grabbing the rifle off it and strapping it around his back and trying his best to emit a cool and collected temperament, one of a leader as he once were and had to be for his crew.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Captain Nathan Taylor Carter
Mess hall, the Defiance.

"Can I take a seat?"

Immediately Carter stood from his seat, “My god Krys! Yes, yes take a seat bud!” he said as he approached the poor pilot, setting a chair for him and taking him by the shoulders.

“You can’t imagine how good it is to see you Krys,” Carter said with a smile, “It’s been quite a wild ride!”

Thanica has settled back in her seat, one boot resting on the edge of the table. She looked relaxed, which was probably to Sshalah's liking. Krystyn's appearance came as something of a surprise to her and for just a moment she wondered if she were looking at another of her own kind but no, as soon as he greeted Carter she realised he had to be another one of these 'hamuns', "Well..." it sounded like she was about to tell a joke of some sort, but a look at Krys made her think better of it, "... it must be nice to see another familiar face."

Post-Mutiny Defiance
Nidheon, Mess Hall
He found a spot not too far away from that group, mostly out of wishing to be alone and his distrust of other prisoners aboard the ship, especially that headhunting Yp, the wild God-Warrior aspirant. He would sit there, pondering over that moment for a bit before he realized the food was probably getting a bit cold, not like it was that warm anyways.

Mihal of Obe
The grumble of his stomach interrupted his thinking. Mihal slung his carbine, which he had kept for his own safety, over his shoulder and walked to the mess. Looking around after he grabbed a tray of food, he tried to pick out any familiar faces besides from that thing which tore that marine to shreds. The table with the three Dhasath and Ragon stood out. The woman was likely the pilot who made the announcement and started the mutiny. One of the men looked like the man who was bound in his cell, and Mihal had only seen one Ragon during the riot. If they were with the pilot, he reckoned that they were mostly sane.

He cautiously approached the table, “Excuse me. This may be strange, but can I sit here. I would sit somewhere else, but” He paused and looked over his shoulder, “I’m not sure about the hospitality of the others here.”

The appearance of the Kiel momentarily distracted from the newcomer. He wasn't crew, so presumably had been one of the group they had freed. He didn't look like the mas murdering sort but, she reminded herself, there had been all sorts of prisoners on the Defiance, the only thing that unified them was their destination... "Of course!" she responded cheerfully, waving Mihal over, "Pull up a chair with me and I will pour you something to drink. I am Thanica by the way."

"The same goes for you!" she called out to Nidheon, "Join us if you like." He didn't look like he wanted to but it was worth a shot. Getting to know the others on the ship and getting them to think of her as useful, even if they didn't go so far as to like her, was the best way for her to keep her hide intact. If people didn't know her she was just that little bit more disposable...

Which was when the message from the cruiser went off, audible to everyone in the hall and the Ragon, whose name she should probably ask, started suggesting the confiscation of communications equipment. That wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't something that Thanica could enforce... nobody could really. She thought about that for a few moments, then gave a small shrug, "I agree with the Ragon that communicating with outside ships is a bad idea at this point. Had that message got through to the ship you attempted to signal, and had that ship shown up here, how friendly would they have been towards the rest of us on this ship?" she asked. The question was a rhetorical one though and she continued on, "Some of us are ex Kiellar soldiers, one of us is a Ragon, how would we have been treated? I am a Dhasath, a valuable sale in some places, what could I have expected?"

"I'm not trying to say that contacting the ship was the wrong thing to do, or to imply that they would have harmed us, just that we are all on this ship together now and we need to make decisions like that together if we want to avoid infighting... and I for one hate cleaning blood out of the floor. It seeps into all the cracks and leaves this horrible crusty residue if you don't get to it quickly enough." she just couldn't resist a little bit of levity.

She did want people to give up communications equipment though... Less because of what had happened here and more because someone might try to signal another Kiellar vessel. That would be bad. Very bad. But who had the right to make a decision like that? "This has me thinking, do we want to look at putting some kind of command structure in place on this ship?" she asked, a little timidly, in case anyone thought this was some kind of power-play on her part, "Because the suggestion was made to confiscate communications equipment... but I can't make that decision, I'm not in charge and I am supremely unqualified to be so."

[Endem]

Krystyn Warecki
Defiance Mess Hall

He ate a little bit of the meal listening closely to Carter, was it true. It certainly appeared to be, but he could not believe it, he was taught it was impossible for humanity right now to even exit the Solar System, what to speak of exiting the Milky Way. He recited a small prayer under his nose and asked Carter a question

"Did they inject something into your neck like me?"

He then spotted the Dragon and the crustacean-like thing. What was this madness!

Yp'Trak Nird'Hoe
Defiance Mess Hall

He was standing near a table holding his food, it was a way of eating for him. The Kel'Resh didn't have a mouth so they ate by their skin. It might have seemed weird to others but, did Yp ever cared of others unless they were an opponent in a duel. Not really.

Y'Trh'dçy
Defiance Mess Hall

The giant beetle was sitting alone, eating those prisoner rations. Because of his untranslatable language, he couldn't even speak to others on the ship. He eventually finished his meal and plunged into his thoughts, you could say he looked like a sculpture.

Tyreh the Warrior
Defiance Mess Hall

He wasn't interested in eating and was sitting there just because he didn't have anything better to do. His suit didn't allow him to eat anything except the food stored in it if he would open it, the nitrogen-rich water would spill, and he would die.

[Korhal IVV]

Captain Nathan Taylor Carter
Mess hall, the Defiance.



Immediately Carter stood from his seat, “My god Krys! Yes, yes take a seat bud!” he said as he approached the poor pilot, setting a chair for him and taking him by the shoulders.

“You can’t imagine how good it is to see you Krys,” Carter said with a smile, “It’s been quite a wild ride!”

Thanica has settled back in her seat, one boot resting on the edge of the table. She looked relaxed, which was probably to Sshalah's liking. Krystyn's appearance came as something of a surprise to her and for just a moment she wondered if she were looking at another of her own kind but no, as soon as he greeted Carter she realised he had to be another one of these 'hamuns', "Well..." it sounded like she was about to tell a joke of some sort, but a look at Krys made her think better of it, "... it must be nice to see another familiar face."

Post-Mutiny Defiance
Nidheon, Mess Hall
He found a spot not too far away from that group, mostly out of wishing to be alone and his distrust of other prisoners aboard the ship, especially that headhunting Yp, the wild God-Warrior aspirant. He would sit there, pondering over that moment for a bit before he realized the food was probably getting a bit cold, not like it was that warm anyways.

Mihal of Obe
The grumble of his stomach interrupted his thinking. Mihal slung his carbine, which he had kept for his own safety, over his shoulder and walked to the mess. Looking around after he grabbed a tray of food, he tried to pick out any familiar faces besides from that thing which tore that marine to shreds. The table with the three Dhasath and Ragon stood out. The woman was likely the pilot who made the announcement and started the mutiny. One of the men looked like the man who was bound in his cell, and Mihal had only seen one Ragon during the riot. If they were with the pilot, he reckoned that they were mostly sane.

He cautiously approached the table, “Excuse me. This may be strange, but can I sit here. I would sit somewhere else, but” He paused and looked over his shoulder, “I’m not sure about the hospitality of the others here.”

The appearance of the Kiel momentarily distracted from the newcomer. He wasn't crew, so presumably had been one of the group they had freed. He didn't look like the mas murdering sort but, she reminded herself, there had been all sorts of prisoners on the Defiance, the only thing that unified them was their destination... "Of course!" she responded cheerfully, waving Mihal over, "Pull up a chair with me and I will pour you something to drink. I am Thanica by the way."

"The same goes for you!" she called out to Nidheon, "Join us if you like." He didn't look like he wanted to but it was worth a shot. Getting to know the others on the ship and getting them to think of her as useful, even if they didn't go so far as to like her, was the best way for her to keep her hide intact. If people didn't know her she was just that little bit more disposable...

Which was when the message from the cruiser went off, audible to everyone in the hall and the Ragon, whose name she should probably ask, started suggesting the confiscation of communications equipment. That wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't something that Thanica could enforce... nobody could really. She thought about that for a few moments, then gave a small shrug, "I agree with the Ragon that communicating with outside ships is a bad idea at this point. Had that message got through to the ship you attempted to signal, and had that ship shown up here, how friendly would they have been towards the rest of us on this ship?" she asked. The question was a rhetorical one though and she continued on, "Some of us are ex Kiellar soldiers, one of us is a Ragon, how would we have been treated? I am a Dhasath, a valuable sale in some places, what could I have expected?"

"I'm not trying to say that contacting the ship was the wrong thing to do, or to imply that they would have harmed us, just that we are all on this ship together now and we need to make decisions like that together if we want to avoid infighting... and I for one hate cleaning blood out of the floor. It seeps into all the cracks and leaves this horrible crusty residue if you don't get to it quickly enough." she just couldn't resist a little bit of levity.

She did want people to give up communications equipment though... Less because of what had happened here and more because someone might try to signal another Kiellar vessel. That would be bad. Very bad. But who had the right to make a decision like that? "This has me thinking, do we want to look at putting some kind of command structure in place on this ship?" she asked, a little timidly, in case anyone thought this was some kind of power-play on her part, "Because the suggestion was made to confiscate communications equipment... but I can't make that decision, I'm not in charge and I am supremely unqualified to be so."

Yare-Lokem
Defiance Mess Hall

The white drakonid only looked around as Thanica suggested that a command structure be put in place. She scanned the entire hall with her eyes, the red glow of her cybernetic eye contrasting with the blue of her other eye, which was still very much her own. After looking at everyone, she turned back to Thanica. “I’d suggest putting someone who has experience in naval command and dealing with different personalities.”, the Sarufi said as she put her left foreleg on the table. “That means our Jokari friend is out of the question, as although he used to be the commander of a battlecruiser, he doesn’t trust any of us at all... except for me and perhaps you, Ms. Pilot of this ship.”, she said as she looked at the others at the eye. “I wouldn’t call myself very qualified either, as I may have commanded a taskforce prior to my capture, but all I did was raid supply convoys, and I destroyed that one space station in one occasion. What we need is someone who is an actual leader that can fulfill something higher than a simple commander at a raid.” The Sarufi then set the glare of her cybernetic eye first at Thanica, and then Carter. “I am guessing one of you will have to do. I just had a hunch. Oh well, I will have to check on Stralbane. I am a good friend.”, she trailed off as she skipped towards the door, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

Crew’s Quarters

The Sarufi sensed the presence of the Jokari in one of the converted crew’s quarters; now that the mutiny was over, Kaleso reorganized his former cell into a comfortable living space, complete with needed amenities thanks to his cybernetic hands. Yare-Lokem moved into the room without knocking, and pushed in the door into the room.

Kaleso Stralbane, the one who slagged a Kiellar colony without hesitation and committed many crimes for the sake of the Jokarun people, was sitting on his bed, weeping with bitter tears.

The Sarufi approached slowly as was her nature, and sat in front of the Jokari, who refused to put his hands away from his face.

“Do you think... they died a quick and painless death?”, Kaleso said almost silently. “Do you think that they didn’t have to endure the Archelians’ torture?”

“I... don’t know.”, Yare-Lokem said. “You did say that the bridge of the Resurgence is able to detach itself. However...”

She then moved a little closer, resting her head on Kaleso’s.

“Say, this isn’t the first time I saw you like this. One year ago, you were like this as well... when your brother died when the Ragon captured him.”

“Must you remind that horrid time again?”, Kaleso snapped with snobs in between. “I have already accepted the truth and now you come here and throw that in?”

“You are forgetting something, Kaleso.”, Yare-Lokem said with her angelic voice. “You said that you were thankful that I was there for you. You said that I am like a sister.”

“Right... of course...”, Kaleso said as he lifted his head to look at the Sarufi eye to eye. “Yes you are. How could I forget? I still have you... There is nothing I can do, after all.”, he went on. “I simply do not have the power... what am I doing to my self?”

“You just did remember, either way.”, the Sarufi said with a chuckle. “But now, it seems you have little choice. The Jokarun will not take you in again, and going out there alone is too... dangerous. The Sunblot Alliance will not take me back for my failure, either.”

“I will have to stay, then.”, Kaleso said as he embraced the dragon, who returned the favour in turn. “I missed this.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“You sweet little Jokari, hmph.”

“Crazy Sarufi witch, hah!”

[New Udonia]

Engineering - Vrondich, Rabaech and Cridrac

“It’s broken.” Rabaech supplied helpfully.

“I know that.” Vrondich sighed, “But the question is can we fix it?”

“No probably not…. Well actually yes, but we’d need spare parts.” The two of them were almost finished in Engineering and things did not look entirely promising. They had also taken Cridrac along with them on the general principal that an android would understand machinery.

“You see.” Vrondich explained, “The Defiance was always a bit of a shonky ship. Not a problem, most of the time, but after someone went into a kill frenzy upstairs, there was a lot of blood spilled, a large volume of which drained into the inter-floor space and because the wiring is old and horrible, somehow we managed to short out the Skrim Drive Coolant System, which, given the fact that Skrim drives tend to overheat anyway, is bad.”

“Very bad.” Rabaech echoed.

“Now because I…”

“We.” Rabaech interrupted.

“Fine, ‘we’, are technical masterminds, we have come up with a solution… but it involves venting the reactor core directly into space.” Vrondich explained animatedly, “Which will mean that we can probably only pull of one jump before we need a lot of spare parts.” He paused as he got to the end, “We should probably make sure there is a planet in range before we do that or tell our pilot.”

“Also, the stasis pod system is broken.” Rabaech continued, “It looks like someone went through an unorthodox shutdown procedure…. But the upshot is there was a system crash and now we can’t open the pods and have no idea who, or what, is in any of them. So we’ll need to figure out a way to fix that as well.”

“Do you know anything about stasis pods?” Vrondich asked, giving Cridrac his first opportunity to actually get a word in edgewise, “Also, have you decided if you’d rather join us or get off the boat?”

The moment of silence from the pair was spoiled a few seconds later by an ominous hissing noise from the floor below, a noise that Rabaech hurried off to discover the source of… a few moments later his voice came drifting up the stairs, “Ah… guys. One of the pods is opening on its own. Vrondich, I hope you still have that blaster!”

Watching the revival of an unknown prisoner didn't provide the former KC any positive emotions. Just another species, which I have no data on. This entire event, the mutiny, his subsequent capture and 'parole' was more than he should have been able to handle. Emotionally, Cridrac was a wreck, although he made great efforts to hide his true state.

They had asked him about stasis pods, stasis pods. Did he look like an engineer? To be fair, he did have an embedded visor which could activate and display a HUD at any given moment. Nevertheless, at the moment his device was absolutely useless, as it had no database of its own. The HUD simply would connect with whatever network was accessible, granting information via it.

Returning to the engineering room with his two companions, Cridrac decided he may as well offer some of his expertise, from within his field.
"As to your first question, I believe we should get some guards on the pods, we don't need something monstrous awakening and doing anymore damage."
This of course, led his companions to immediately suspect foul play, as he was one of two Kiellar guards alive on the ship, which they demonstrated in body language.
"As to your second question..." Cridrac hesitated. This was the moment where he decided to play along, or hint at his underlying desire for rebellion.

"It all depends on if I'm getting paid and whose in charge. Without a strong leader your mission is doomed." His companions again appeared annoyed, causing him to stammer out a follow-up response. "I don't know if you feel the same... but I personally would never want a Ragon in charge." Trying to smile only made things worse, or was Cridrac just being paranoid.

[Dyelli Beybi]

"As to your second question..." Cridrac hesitated. This was the moment where he decided to play along, or hint at his underlying desire for rebellion.

"It all depends on if I'm getting paid and whose in charge. Without a strong leader your mission is doomed." His companions again appeared annoyed, causing him to stammer out a follow-up response. "I don't know if you feel the same... but I personally would never want a Ragon in charge." Trying to smile only made things worse, or was Cridrac just being paranoid.

Neither of the two engineers tried to chase after the prisoner who staggered out of his pod, "Another human." Rabaech remarked as he returned to join the pair in Engineering, "They're harmless. Anyone want to get some lunch? I'm starving."

Vrondich shrugged, "Well we are pretty much done..." he turned back to Cridrac, "I think at this point our 'wages' are food, drink and free board, though on the plus side you don't need to explain what happened to Command."

"You are quite right about the Leader." he continued, "I had had someone in mind, but with the stasis modules on the fritz I have no idea where he is or how to get him out. If I were a gambler..."

"You are a gambler." Rabaech interrupted.

"Yes alright! I'd put my money on people putting the Dhasath in charge, though I'm hoping there is someone with a bit more experience to step in... It should be me, but she's been the one doing all the talking." Vrondich supplied, taking stock of the room to see if they'd missed anything important, "any thoughts?" he asked before adding, slyly, "If I were you, I would claim I was going to join the crew so I got some say in who is in charge. Its not like there won't be ample opportunities to ditch the ship when we get to port."

[Harbertia]

Sshalah
Mess Hall
As Yare-Lokem left Sshalah looked down upon Thanica, "I thought you where the leader." she said, it had been her who was securing the bridge and her who organized the prisoners, and her who freed the Ragon. It was her name that had been broadcast to the ship, and she who had the only reason for Sshalah to be loyal.

"My name is Thanica Vari. Some of you know me. Most of you probably don't. I was and still am the pilot of this ship, and I am here with an important announcement. This ship is no longer under Kiellar Command, we are now an independent ship under the command of no person and we are heading for the neutral zone where the law cannot follow us.

If you are fighting right now, stop. The battle is over. We control both armouries, we control engineering and the bridge. The Captain has fallen. If you fought for Kiellar Command, drop your weapons and surrender. I can promise you the choice of being left on a neutral planet or joining this crew.

If you were fighting on our side, knowingly or unwittingly, you have won. Relax, make yourself comfortable in your room, have something to eat or enjoy a glass of Raz'lak. This ship will be dropping out of hyperspace soon. The engineers will be inspecting the ship for damage. From there we can plan our next move. Until then, settle in. This could be a long ride."

"Do not sell yourself short little one, of those present it is you I am most willing to follow. You freed me, knowing the risk to yourself- a bold move, and one I am indebted to. I feel anyone else would have fortified the cell and let me starve, let my sanity vanish, and my body decay in a cage. It is you who have fed me, shared a drink with me. I know nothing of the Huemanns, I don't trust the other life forms with my life- but I trust you to consider it more then they."

[Rykil]

Post-Mutiny Defiance
Nidheon, Mess Hall
He found a spot not too far away from that group, mostly out of wishing to be alone and his distrust of other prisoners aboard the ship, especially that headhunting Yp, the wild God-Warrior aspirant. He would sit there, pondering over that moment for a bit before he realized the food was probably getting a bit cold, not like it was that warm anyways.

"The same goes for you!" she called out to Nidheon, "Join us if you like." He didn't look like he wanted to but it was worth a shot. Getting to know the others on the ship and getting them to think of her as useful, even if they didn't go so far as to like her, was the best way for her to keep her hide intact. If people didn't know her she was just that little bit more disposable...

A stalk looked over the group in response to Thanica's call, examining the group. He could hear Carter's overjoyed response to seeing the other human, someone he probably knew before they were brought aboard. Then came the audible message from the Jokari's communicator, something that worried him. If someone caught the signal, especially the Ragon Empire or the Kiellar Command, that would mean serious trouble form the Defiance. At least the Ragon wasn't a secret agent, and all the Kiellar aboard were either criminal, mutineer, or loyalists in converted cells. Ceasing his suspicions, he moved over towards the group and sat down.

[Bingellia]

Mihal of Obe
Defiance-Mess Hall

Mihal nodded as he took a seat with a warm smile spreading across his face due to the offer for the drink. "Thank you, Thanica. I'm Mihal" The message through the ship was alarming to him, but deciding to take any action against it was far above his current authority. Taking the drink, he raised his class. "Thanks for our freedom. Prost!" He said as started to drink and eat.

As the discussion turned to leadership, Mihal perked up a little bit. If the stars aligned, the mutineers and newly freed prisoners would agree on this and that would hopefully solve several of his current questions. Hesitantly, he offered his opinion, "I'm not a military man, I'm far from it in fact, and don't know the first thing about running a ship. Keeping the books, sure, but not running a ship. But you, Thanica, you started this whole affair. We are all indebted to you even if some of us wouldn't admit it. Even if you yourself aren't in charge, an endorsement from you would likely go a very long way, and I'd be content to follow.

[Arengin Union]

Captain Nathan Taylor Carter
Mess hall, the Defiance.

---

While listening to the debate over the Avian’s communicator, giving off looks at the white dragon like creature, hearing Thanica’s claim that she was not in charge and overall trying to keep up to date with what was going on Carter then turned his attention back to Krystyn. He was still rather shaken as he ate, and Carter couldn’t really blame him at all.

"Did they inject something into your neck like me?"

Feeling the back of his neck again, Carter nodded, “A microbe, that’s why we can understand them and they us,” Carter turned his head to show Krystyn his own puncture scars.

“They’ll itch for a bit but you’ll get used to it bud.” Carter again patted his fellow human on the shoulder as he turned his attention to the dragon creature that began to speak.

“I’d suggest putting someone who has experience in naval command and dealing with different personalities.”, the Sarufi said as she put her left foreleg on the table. “That means our Jokari friend is out of the question, as although he used to be the commander of a battlecruiser, he doesn’t trust any of us at all... except for me and perhaps you, Ms. Pilot of this ship.”, she said as she looked at the others at the eye. “I wouldn’t call myself very qualified either, as I may have commanded a taskforce prior to my capture, but all I did was raid supply convoys, and I destroyed that one space station in one occasion. What we need is someone who is an actual leader that can fulfill something higher than a simple commander at a raid.” The Sarufi then set the glare of her cybernetic eye first at Thanica, and then Carter. “I am guessing one of you will have to do. I just had a hunch. Oh well, I will have to check on Stralbane. I am a good friend.”, she trailed off as she skipped towards the door, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

Carter was caught off guard by the Creature’s proposal as he gave a glance at Thanica, his expression one of complete vacillation. More of the aliens began to speak about the issue at hand, with plenty in support of Thanica, Carter himself was not sure about being leader of anything anymore. He had had a crew, a ship he commanded and had failed to protect it and his own crew and lost it to an alien enemy and was now inside a rogue ship drifting through space in a different Galaxy alongside a band of renegades, delinquents, and other downtrodden of a society he lacked any knowledge about. If anything they were correct, Thanica had in essence started the mutiny and it was because of her that he and so many others were now free from the shackles of the Command, it was really the only person he could reliable trust in this ship, Olorisa was unstable and Krystyn as much as he respected him the man was in no position to help at the moment.

But on the other hand he himself was a leader, a Captain as Thanica had addressed him before and he had tried to make give his own efforts to the mutiny as little as they were. He was a military man, a dedicated man to his crew and he did not wish to become a prisoner again, he wanted to go back home but at the moment that didn’t matter. Carter recognized that not only did these alien prisoners made up of rather unpredictable and unstable individuals needed a leader, Thanica needed him as much as he needed her to help him understand this strange world. The best hands were him and Thanica by all means.

Looking over at Thanica, Carter himself gave his own thoughts on the matter “I for one think she is the only person I personally can rely on, so far she’s proved to be determined and headstrong and that is all a leader should be” he took a pause as he walked to Thanica’s side of the table, passing by the other aliens who had gathered around.

“Look, we’re in this together, I can see you’re a rogue soldier and we’re stranded in a ship with a group of people that are in dire need of guidance” he walked closer and got just a few feet from her, “You freed me when you didn’t have to and for that I will always thank you. You called me Captain when others called me ‘inferior’, for that I thank you more” the Human Carter then extended his arm to the Dhasath Thanica, palm wide open “We’re in this together, so how about we lead this band of renegades together.”

Carter stood firm as his extended hand and arm remained opened and still, waiting for Thanica’s response.