Scene #5478: MISSION: Binary Star (7)

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Starbound Flotilla	THE SPACEBAR This game zone appears to be a tremendous, shattered-open planetoid instead of an island in VRMMO Earth. The fractured planetoid drifts far above Earth, something like two thirds of the moon's size at least, and it glitters with a startling array of lights that indicate spots of activity, habitation, or perhaps even space colonization. Segments of the tremendous planetoid seem to offer strange mineral themes, conspicuous organic growth, or even obvious technological artificiality, depending on the nature of the individual fracture. Today's site is somewhere near one of the more gray, bland fragments of the planetoid. Is this a little on the nose for a digital world? It almost feels like it, but it lacks an air of insincerity that might come from that. A lot of the world is inspired by old science fiction, and this is no exception. It has the look of a setpiece from The Jetsons, all elegant parabolas, stylish points, and Googie architecture, alongside midcentury-modern neon signage. There's literally a big neon rocketship that makes up the sign of this... Taaaavern? It somehow feels, in some way, like this is the equivalent of an RPG tavern for the game. Maybe it's the diversity of individual craft, all of which are styled after some cliche of late 30s to early 80s science fiction or another. Maybe it's the tone that sets it dramatically in sort of a lesser region of the larger colony near it. Maybe it's the fact that, as one approaches it, their minimap populates with an array of icons indicating things that are probably quest boards, vendors, and logout-safe zones, and that's just how taverns tend to be. Minimaps indicate this as an "FSC Ranger Station", whatever that means. The interior is even more stylized, evoking the aesthetic of 1950s diners, bars, and other places of eating. The only thing out of place is that all of the NPCs in here are wearing big doofy cold-war spacesuits of some kind or another. How ARE they eating? I mean, they've got bar food, diner food, and hell, they've got glasses of all sorts of alcohol, but all of them have totally opaque helmets on their suits. Some are EVA suits, some are just thinner interior suits which let them wear things like a bowtie and waistcoat on that left-side bartender. The one on the right is a big robot with a massive lightbulb head, looking like a man in a goofy, massive tin suit otherwise. As usual, the quest board of stacked CRTs, the heavy reel-to-reel computronics apparatus that Nostromo "lives" in, and the important FSC individuals are all present, as well as the weird bartenders. Things haven't been unusual since the group's arrival so far, and this has seemed much like the other, previous visits to the Spacebar. That quiet will change rather suddenly. But not quite yet. The question of the moment is less what specifically will change and more of where everyone is when the lights of the Spacebar flicker slightly and a noise of rather erratic, possibly broken thrusters becomes audible. Is someone else approaching?
Sanary Rondel	Amongst the various NPCs lining the bar is someone else that looks completely out of place. Sure, they've got the helmet, but aside from that? Nothing else they're wearing matches the NPCs at all1 No, they're wearing a white coat that definitely doesn't match the aesthetic at all, and they also seem to be having trouble figuring out how to eat. Taking off the helmet would make things easier, of course, but whoever's under that helmet seem determined to do it with that helmet on even if all they're managing to do is stabbing the front of the helmet with a straw repeatedly. This puzzle needs to be solved, dammit!
Alexis Maaka	Maaka's not coming in loaded for bear today, the station is basically an RPG hub, as she explained to Yumi on the way here. She arrives, nomming on some freeze-dried astronaut food (ICE CREAM! IN! SPAAAAACE!) as she enters the station. Grabbing a seat, she orders some food to eat, mostly a delicious burger to nom while the briefing goes on. She gives Sanary a friendly wave and a grin, waggling fingers as she watches Sanary futilely eat through a helmet.
Yumiko Kojima	The Spacebar. Rather less of a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' than Yumi had believe these places usually were. And most of the references are lost on her given the fact that there aren't any diners in her world with decor over a century old. At least not that she's found in Seattle. With the addition of one of Alexis' stash of nanoskins, helmet hanging at her belt, Yumi's armor could in theory pass for a spacesuit, although more of a sixties scifi form fitting one than bulky realistic. Acknowledging the fact that she's in a new place, but not nessecarily one she knows or feels safe in, she's left her SMG at home, sticking more to handguns. She slips into the seat next to Alexis, and acquires her own burger and fries to nom! Becuase delicious burgers. Even though she had those for lunch too.
Iria	The Spacebar. A place to chill out and relax for those in the game. Or to gather quests. Or something like that, right? For Iria it's a chance to unwind while being outside of the real world. Even if it's not real food or whatever, it's still nice to have a virtual drink. Especially since Fujikuro interfered in one of her bounties again, costing her 1/3 of the total payment. Since then, Iria's wanted to talk to no one but hang out online to try to escape for awhile. And it's obvious when you look at her that Iria's really in one of her worse moods today. The bounty hunter takes a seat close to where Alexis and Yumiko are, albeit not right next to them, since Iria is not in the mood to be social right now. With an angry sigh, she sips her drink. "If Fujikuro starts playing this game, he's gonna have a huge disadvantage with me. He deserves it too." She closes her eyes and hmmphs.
Kyoko Takada	"Hibiki" is here, that screen name sticking for whatever purposes a screen name may be needed or detectable. She's not in her seemingly AWACS-inspired mecha right now, but in some sort of full-covering spacesuit that tends more toward the superfuturistic tight-fitting, face-covering suits that might also be used for space ninjas. It's definitely not because she wanted to get the sliders just right on her avatar but didn't have time to get her face perfect. Definitely not. She's checking out the quests board, trying to find things that might be useful in a more cross-application context, like if she succeeds in her goal of operating her mecha outside.
Staren	As Staren comes in from the airlock, his spacesuit sort of recedes under his clothes, disappearing somewhere aside from a torc with a small air tank. He walks up to the bar, perusing the menu for a few moments before settling on: "One Saturn V burger, please. With the special sauce." He takes a seat at a table facing the briefing, leaning forward with elbows on the table to avoid getting grease all over himself. He declines to comment on Sanary's attempt to blend in with the NPCs. That doesn't seem like a conversation that will go anywhere productive.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis glances to Iria, and narrows her brows as she sets her meal down. "This guy a problem of yours?" She asks in a very dangerous, low tone that illustrates 'i am totally down to hunt this guy down and gut him like a fish with you' with just six words and a dark look in her eye. It's kinda scary how she can do that on the spot.
Septette Arcubielle	For all the world, Septette seems to be unwinding and enjoying herself. She's picking through a sample platter of cheese fries, mozzarella sticks, stuffed peppers- everything a grease-starved tourist could want in a dive like this. Off to the side, incongruously, is a half-empty teapot and cup with a teetering pyramid of sugar cubes. She just can't beat that addiction, it seems! But nothing's ever really that simple with the hyper-vigilant android. She's sitting in a corner of the bar, with a clear view of all the doors and most of the windows, plus a solid vantage point on any of the major NPCs here. Maybe it's just the habits and reflexes of someone who's been surprised too many times to really be caught off-guard anymore. Maybe it's a conscious decision, given the strangeness of their environment and her simmering tension with some (cough, Dimwatt) of the colorful characters here. Regardless, she's well-positioned when that peculiar sound rumbles through the building. For a moment, in the staccato darkness of the flickering lights, Septette's purple eyes slice through the shadows like some cartoon figure looking around a pitch-black room. Then she pulls herself to her feet, shotguns the rest of her tea, and locks eyes on the door to the hangar, her knifelike fingers flexing subtly under her purple cloak. Maybe it's nothing. But 'maybe' isn't good enough.
Iria	Looking up with a scowl, Iria says, "He's my frenemy, you might say." She looks down and closes her eyes again. "He doesn't play this game... at least not yet... But if he does start, at least I can teach him some manners here, since he wouldn't know the first thing about this game." She chuckles a little but then scowls again. "Then again, I doubt he'd even know how to operate one of the devices to play this game!"
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki's been here a while, with a bunch of pointy-eared armored fairies also enjoying the atmosphere. Yuuki's the only one in local armor; a collection of metal plates and chain that's probably at least somewhat literal. Her companions, colourful Alfheim Online avatars, have been taking in the Space Bar with amused wonder. This is, in a way, a little party for the Sleeping Knights. Not for any great reason really, just because they haven't done anything for a while. And aside from adventure, which they haven't entirely had the time to do, they generally agree only on feasting. So yes, the lot of them are partying hard off by one table. The tall and broad Tecchi seems to be having a drinking contest with the sultry Nori. Jun's checking out the funky robots while also occupying himself with a two-fisted burger, and he might well mistake Septette for a science fiction junkbot. Yuuki's sitting with the willowy Siune and the scrawny Talken, laughing uproariously as she tells them several jokes. They're not laughing with her, but they at least seem amused. By Yuuki that is, not by the jokes themselves. Yuuki may well be drunk, or at least the video-game equivalent, judging by the mugs she's been putting back. Then again knowing her, they may be root beer.
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima raises an eyebrow, pausing in mid-bite. She has no idea who this person is, or who they're grumbling about... But Maaka seems to know and trust them. Who knows, maybe this will turn out to be something besides just a burger and information meetup. She gives a nod to Iria, before closing her eyes as she takes another nomf of burger, and peoplewatching.
Tomoe	Tomoe was at the bar and had been for some time already stood out a bit givne the style of her current short redhead forms's light combat armor didn't really fit the retro vibe of the station but hey she wa short and did look scifit she could be dangerous right? She moves in and moves to get near Yumiko as she moves ti sit down by her and grins. "Goods great,, got to ay the burger's pretty good."
Septette Arcubielle	If Septette betrayed any signs of tension before, it all melts away as soon as Jun strolls over- being marveled at and investigated is close enough to flattery for her, and she's used to it enough that it's almost comforting. She gently nudges his heavy chestplate with an elbow and grins mischievously. "Hey, kiddo. Look, but don't touch, alright? I'll have you know I'm a museum piece." She laughs amiably at her own joke, then shakes her head and holds out one hand. Her fingers are, as always, intimidatingly sharp- but if he's wearing gauntlets, surely he's got nothing to worry about. "Septette Arcubielle. You're a friend of Ms. Konno's, aren't you? Pleased to make your acquaintance... Mister Jun." One earfin twitches a little as she says that- pretty acute hearing, to pick that out over the crowd!
Sanary Rondel	Alexis gets a friendly wave in return! Sanary's still focused, though, because she is absolutely determined to figure out how the NPCs are even doing that. No, she hasn't considered the possibility of them just being NPCs with NPC magic as the only explanation. Even that rumbling doesn't draw her attention away! She does, however, toss Septette a quick wave as well despite the Yggdroid's apparent caution, and Yuuki and Tomoe also get curious glances and waves upon recognizing their numbers through... No reason in particular. However, the helmeted healer is soon back to trying to solve the mysteries of this universe that nobody really cares about. She'll figure it out sooner or later.
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki's not a particularly observant or alert person in a noncombat zone. Things change, of course, in times of trouble. But the tiny girl does everything with her full heart. When she fights, she fights with everything she's got. When she parties, she parties hard. Right now she's partying, and spending time with her friends. She doesn't ignore Sanary or the others who acknowledge her of course. She's always friendly, particularly to those she's fought beside... she's just none too alert. Jun starts in surprise as Septette speaks, apparently realizing suddenly that she's not an NPC. "Oh wow! You can speak!" he says brilliantly, making up for the lame statement with a wide and cheerful grin, not to mention obvious fascination. "So you're not actually from around here, huh?" he asks. Possibly unaware of the implications of issuing what could be mistaken for pickup lines at a Space Bar.
Starbound Flotilla	How DO these NPCs eat?! They never take off their helmets, but they also almost never seem to be eating while you're looking. The moment you look away, they've taken a bite, but not a second before or a second after. Sanary is finding this out in a tough way. What mysteries make this work? The food's real enough to be filling though, thankfully. A game zone this may be, but it's got real substance enough to be truly filling! There's space and credits enough for Yuuki's friends though, absolutely plenty to go around and make a fun social gathering! The Sleeping Knights are a welcome patronage for the group, definitely. Septette's paranoia, though... Is seemingly warranted. Dimwatt, her hated bartender, flickers as well, very suddenly. The hangar slams open dramatically, revealing what might be described as precisely one and a half figures. One is more familiar, albeit more revealed; the massive man in an even more massive hardsuit that looks stitched together from a dozen scavenged pieces of EVA gear taken from a dozen fifties movie sets, bristling with an assortment of tesla coil looking emitters, and under his arm, held like a football, what looks like a large mechanical brain with an ancient CRT monitor lodged in it, displaying various images of the fermentation process from chemistry textbooks. While the former may have weapons -- some kind of gently glowing plasma machete strapped to his side, a ray-shotgun slung over his back, and a sidearm raygun -- he doesn't have them drawn. He does freeze, though, the moment he spots a few key people who may recognize him in turn: Yuuki, Septette, and Silica, should she be present here. Septette, Maaka, and Yumiko seem to be directly recognized by the odd mechanical brain, which begins displaying brilliant red images of them in battle. They remain frozen, one for lack of words and the other for lack of limbs.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka is about to go into casual chatter, introducing Yumiko to Iria, as she nibbles her food. SHe notes Yuuki's new friends, cocking an eyebrow. "Oi, Yuuki, you been guilding behind our back or something? C'mon, I thought we had something!" She teases with a laugh, all in good natured fun. The ribbing stops as soon as Maaka sees who arrives, specifically a brain and a pirate captain. And she leaps off her seat and dramatically opens her coat, drawing her Kama 40 and leveling the combat pistol directly at them in reflex. "What the -shit- are they doing here? DIdn't we cap these guys?!" She barks, more or less confused as a Mexican Standoff is unexpectedly forced.
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko is having trouble finding anything interesting on the quest board. Why are there never any good jobs? ... That sounds like something a drifter would say, best put it aside. She coughs. There's a sudden, dramatic entrance. Kyoko pauses, a finger half-raised. "Who's that?"
Sanary Rondel	Sanary's hunger gets the better of her, and she soon cheats (or unknowingly mimics the NPCs) by lifting that helmet to take a proper sip and bite. She still puts the helmet back on, though, and keeps trying to figure out the secret shortly afterwards! Right until the hangar opens, anyway, and two... Ish figures arrive. Less than two, really, considering the limb issue, but neither of them are particularly familiar to the healer. "... I. Uh. I'm missin' something, huh?" She stage-whispers to nobody in particular, looking towards the other familiar faces to try and figure out whether she should be grabbing her axe or just kicking back and watching how all of this plays out.
Septette Arcubielle	Septette waves over her new acquaintance's shoulder at Sanary- then covers her mouth and stifles a laugh at Sanary's food woes. As tempted as she is to solve her buddy's culinary problems, maybe it's better to let her figure them out on her own? "Better than that," the little android says, turning her attention back to Jun, "you couldn't get me to shut up if you tried. But I think you're getting a tiny bit ahead of yourself." She taps her chin and looks down over her cheekbones, head tilted back slightly in a faux-knowing expression. "Asking someone where they're from, at a bar like this... I'd say you should buy me a drink first, but I'm a little too old for-" Her teasing is cut short with a disconcertingly sharp reaction: her head snaps to face the door in the same instant that it opens, at an angle just slightly more awkward than a human neck would allow. The rest of her body turns to follow suit a fraction of a second later, and she holds up a single finger to Jun, signaling that their little chat has been put on hold. Heavy, clanking footsteps echo through the bar as she strides forward to greet them- though her arms stay by her sides, her blades folded away for now. "Tormod. ... Captain. Tell me- what brings you two here?"
Iria	Iria ain't saying much, just eating and trying to calm down. She's doing a good job until the two 'old thorns' come in, and almost immediately, like it's a reflex, Iria spins around and gasps before scowling a little. "Well, look what the cat dragged in." Iria mutters to herself as she stands up and pushes away her food. At first, Iria's first instinct is to attempt to confront them, but apparently Septette would rather try diplomacy. A sour sneer appears on Iria's face at that bit. "Like that ever works..." She mutters.
Yuuki Konno	Jun's young but apparently not quite sheltered so much as Yuuki. He actually understands innuendo, at least to a degree, and blushes at Septette's teasing. Yes, he's way too young to drink, and as fascinated as he is at nerdery and other things including robots he surely isn't ld enough to have confidence with flirting with one! Yuuki throws her arms around her two companions unselfconsciously, though Talken writhes a bit. "I've known them longer than I've known you!" she laughs, answering Maaka. "We've been a guild for YEARS now!" she grins, accepting the tease and replying only semi-seriously. She stops laughing, finally, when the pirate boss charges into the room. It takes her a moment though, so her laughter's probably one of the last sounds to ring out into the abrupt silence. She stays silent for a moment, then shrugs. Of everyone here, she's possibly the most used to VR gaming. "This isn't a combat zone." she says casually. "Anyone who starts a fight in here will answer to station security." she warns. More to her companions than anyone else. She peers up at the huge captain, and abruptly grins playfully. "If you ARE here for a rematch though, I'd be happy to step outside? Isn't that the term?"
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima's handds instantly drop below the table, grabbing the grips of two of her guns, but not bringing them up yet, legs bracing in case she needs to kick the table over for cover. She's instantly dead still compared to the constant motion of earlier, her movements almost eerily fluid as she examines the group. And then Maaka's guns come out, and so do Yumi's, one fairly normal looking hand cannon of a heavy pistol, the other much more exotic looking and with a a large mechanism of some sort underneath the barrel. The more conventional pistol is aimed at the human, her shotgun covering the TV. Flechette rounds aren't the best against armor, but they should do it for glass. A red dot appears on her targets, more for the intimidation factor than to assist Yumi's aim. <<...So what do we do here?>>
Staren	Staren looks at the door as the pair burst in. "...Who're you? A player, or an NPC?" And then he sees Maaka go for her gun, and immediately follows suit, drawing his laser pistol and looking for cover. After a moment he settles for standing there, facing the Captain(?), holding his pistol aimed and ready to fire in two hands. "So who is this guy??"
Starbound Flotilla	The moment Maaka, Staren, and Yumiko draw weapons, so too does the massive pirate, with reflexes fast enough that both his raygun and Maaka's pistol are pointing at each other at the same time. He says something firm and intense in thick and completely incomprehensible Russian, much like the FSC's miner. His google-translated dialogue is, as always, some easter egg or another, but his intention seems fairly clear, simply to deter being fired on, rather than to threaten the enemy. Seems Yuuki will need to get her rematch another time. He doesn't know the pair, but the weird mechanical brain does. Kyoko's and Sanary's answer is received when the icons pop up on both: "CRUISER TORMOD" and "SCRAP CAPTAIN ?????", which is why the brain begins making strained, cautiously angry noises. As a berserker, it can only comprehend hostility, but it does so here in a more reserved way, a wary way that it expresses with flickering, fuzzy images of medieval shields. The captain rambles something in Russian at the mechanical brain-with-a-television, tossing it awkwardly to one side on the ground, which makes more insisting noises. He makes downward gestures at the guns pointing at him, and says something defensive, patting his own holster. Seemingly not wanting to exchange any bullets, and willing to put his own gun away. Septette's question gets an odd answer. He gestures his gun at... The computronics station? Amid his thick Russian dialogue, the word "Nostromo" is audible two or three times.
Kyoko Takada	"Oh. Ohh, it's that thing! Didn't it used to be a lot bigger?" Kyoko looks at... Septette for an answer to this. She was inside it, after all. "And a scrap captain. I didn't understand any of the rest of that. Was that Russian?" She appears wholly unconcerned about the gun-waving.
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima ...does not speak russian, and her matrix connection is too fuzzy right now to try to pull up some sort of livestreaming translator. But... Seems like it wants to talk? She lowers her guns, not holstering them, but at least they're pointing at the floor instead. On second thought... She holsters the Roomsweeper, using her now freed hand to pick up and take a bite of her burger, not taking her eyes off of the pirate captain.
Iria	Meanwhile, Iria can only watch as some draw their weapons while Septette herself attempts diplomacy. Unfortunately, Iria doesn't know any Russian, so she just steps back a little and watches to see what happens. "Do what you will," Iria says softly. "But if things get out of hand, I'll be ready."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka is pretty well versed in Russian, which means even THIS is a surreal experience for her. "...I think he said something about our mothers. I think." She says, not lowering the gun after a moment. "Okay...uhhhh." She tries to communicate in Russian, heavily accented but certainly something not thrown through Google's translation software. Worth a shot, right?
Tomoe	Tomoe looks over to Sanary for a moment and grins at her, she is also enjoying hr burger as well as hey? It's good food and for some reason it actually is legit food. That might be a small kidness really. She digs, but manaqged to not make a mess of it as she works throeugh the burger. She wasn't expecting someone else to arrive, and it looks like someone sure as hell knows to make an entrace. She finishe off the last of her burger and summons out her blade. "Cardinal can do what she wishes with NPCs, I seen suposedly plot dead come back before with new back story." She seems to be backing up her allies on this she isn't making the first hostile action however. "Do we really have to mess up the bar and our meals over this?" She banishesw her blade now adn looks over to computer station. 5R "Nostromo? You got some intel on it?" If this is the chase this spacer has good sense about dealing with the infested over anything else. "All right then I'm glad we're not going to end up fighting here."
Septette Arcubielle	Septette nods to Hibiki. "It had a lot of cognitive attachments helping it run that ship, I think- some kind of networked intelligence, maybe, or multiple instances of the same intelligence running on different platforms to handle different tasks." She seems outwardly calm, welcoming even, but that doesn't stop her from very subtly maneuvering to block particular anticipated sight-lines with her own body. So if she rolls her shoulder like this, the armor plating would intercept a shot made by the captain at Jun's chest, and so on... Her earfin flicks, and it takes her a moment to make a decision. "Pirate captain. What do you want the Nostromo for? Do you hope to extract data pertaining to the Neurovores? Or do you want something else?" She chews her lower lip in thought, then adds- "You and Tormod are from rival factions. Tormod would only ally with you if it thought the berserkers were in danger of being overwhelmed, yes? ... Is that why you're here together? To help stop the Neurovores?"
Yuuki Konno	While Yuuki appears to be sobering up, she's not quite sober yet. She's mellow enough, but seemingly ready for trouble. Her companions, however, aren't necessarily so out of it. "He's trying to communicate." the one woman says. Blue-haired and seemingly gentle, Siune may well be the wisest member of the Sleeping Knights. "I think he only intends to defend himself. Or possibly defend ... against something? Perhaps he wants to team up with you?" Yuuki stirs, and shrugs. "That doesn't seem likely, but I'm up for it if it's true!" she grins. With that, still not pulling any weapons, she strides over to the boss. "What is it, big guy? Do you have something you want to tell us? Something to show us?" she asks in a friendly manner, putting herself literally on the front line should anything bad happen.
Staren	Staren lowers his weapon and takes his finger off the trigger, but he's not willing to holster it until the captain does. Septette asks what's on his mind before he can, so he looks to the captain for a response.
Starbound Flotilla	The scrap captain seems to make a few affirmative grunts, then he re-holsters his sidearm cautiously, and re-gathers his discarded mechanical brain, which makes angry noises at him. Tormod replies to Septette oddly. Flickering images of classic orphan characters like Oliver Twist, amid montages of assembly lines, display, and then red images of humans, as well as mutilated neurovores. This is a little unclear, so Tormod seems to strain to concentrate on explaining further, synthesizing an answer in whole images with its more limited brainpower. An icon for a classic Grey alien stands at a console, where cartoon brains roll down assembly lines. The synthesized icons are interrupted by erratic images of classical utopias or Golden Ages of humanity in all sorts of cultures, from images of greco-roman sculture to Renaissance paintings. Abruptly, a mysterious shape with a large question mark slams into the Grey, knocking it away and making it disappear! The flickering images turn to images of World War 1 and 2. The brains on the assembly line grow red and angry. And then several red images of humans appear, with that same question mark. As they do... Neurovores slip in, in a sort of uncertain way, with that same icon. It's seemingly trying to explain how the hostility translates. It "vengefully" hates all life, but for a reason that may possibly be assigned to the Neurovores too...? Maaka tries Russian, and it works, but the Captain's own Russian is still incomprehensible by virtue of the fact that it's almost exclusively badly translated easter eggs. He nods to her though, and the one-way communication improves the situation. He moves... SLOWLY... Towards the computronics setup, and takes a seat. His attempts to poke at the keyboard are soon thwarted by his own suit's massive fingers, though! He seems to... Begin removing the hardsuit! You may be about to see what he looks like under that, at last. For now, though, he tries to elaborate. Thankfully, a subtitle interface has finally appeared, now that a negotiation's been completed and Maaka has identified the language. "Overwhelmed doesn't matter." Say the subtitles for his dialogue. "I was born overwhelmed, I lived overwhelmed, and I'll die overwhelmed. Neurovores are different. Can settle with a big bounty from Earth if I can stop this. Go back home. Location of a Beta Agent. Will kill a problem I have too. Don't care about the Shipyard incident if you help."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka is endlessly confused by the Captain's poorly done space Russian, but at least there's no need for vioelnce here. She holsters her sidearm, and she grabs a seat as she motions for Yumiko to holster her sidearms too. "Stand down, we're good." FINALLY the language makes more sense now, as she listens and nods. "Alright, so we've found the problem. Where's this Agent hiding?" She asks.
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima ...Huh. Subtitles. And she's not getting any signals for AROs? She blinks a few times, but the letters don't go away. Fortunately, her burger's gone, leaving one hand free for gesturing. "...So you're /not/ going to try to kill us... Why doesn't Tormod try to kill you though if it hates all life? Or something. I'm still getting used to all this drek." Hey, if she's getting subtitles, the Captain would be too, right? "...And you want to do one last job, retire, and go home?" This is sounding strangely like some of the talk she'd heard from older runners in fixer bars... She re-holsters her Guardian in response to Maaka's lead, sitting back down again and losing most of the fluidity in her motion as she takes a mouthful of fries.
Staren	Staren puts the gun away... for now. "So... in this setting, aliens were controlling humanity's minds all through history? Eesh. Well, if you know where another of the agents is, I guess we're glad for your help..."
Iria	Subtitles? Iria would say she's seen everything here, but she hasn't. She's seen a LOT weirder than this. Since she never was big on handling negotiations, Iria simply stands off to the side and lets the others handle it for the time being. If she has something to say, she'll say something.
Sanary Rondel	Trying to figure out the whole food situation is proving to be a losing battle for Sanary, and with things going as they are surrounding Tormod and Mister Whatshisname, there's only one thing the healer can do! That's pretty much continuing to kick back and read the subtitles. "Shipyard...? Oh, so you're...!" Sanary pauses, then coughs lightly and doesn't finish that sentence. No sense making the situation more awkward than it already was, especially with things settling down from moments ago. "So... What do you need us to do, then?"
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki, dressed in her scrapper armor, looks almost completely unlike the scrap captain... except of course there's that similarity that just sets off the contrast. She watches in utter fascination as the Berserker shows a montage of icons, and the Captain tries to indicate his points in subtitles. She seems puzzled, but slowly seems to clue in at least somewhat to what's going on. An offer of truce, of alliance. Forgiveness for past deeds and actions, in exchange for cooperation on an important objective. She can live with that. She continues to watch, fascinated, as the Russian apparently intends to remove his helmet and reveal his secret appearance. Only to stiffen as one of her companions reaches around her from behind to put hands over her eyes. "Oh no you don't!" Nori says in a gentle singsong. "This isn't something for your innocent eyes~" the woman teases, while Yuuki pouts and flails... but not in a way that would actually manage to dislodge her friend. This would seem to be an inside joke for the two of them, at least judging by the amused grins of the rest of the Sleeping Knights.
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko listens along to Septette's explanation, then watches the braintube display some kind of narrative. "That's not how I'm reading it," she says, after Staren. "But that is a fairly common setting, isn't it? I wonder if those question marks are the same unknowns, or unknown unknowns." She claps her hands together. It doesn't produce quite the right sound, in her suit. "So, in any case, this is an offer to team up to go after the next key, right? Just what is each side getting out of this, if we were to draw up some terms of agreement?"
Starbound Flotilla	The small brain buzzes angrily at Staren and rattles a few times strangely. Several very blatantly copyright-violating clips are displayed, images of humans in all sorts of media shooting and killing aliens. The clarification is... Decidedly not very clear. Well, for whatever reason, it displays more mutilated neurovores, seeming willing to collaborate on /that/ topic for whatever angry, berserker reason it has.
Starbound Flotilla	Sanary is quite correct. The Ace she spoke to earlier is looking very tense and hostile at the Scrap Captain, in fact, which is just exactly how the Ace normally looks because everyone's wearing a spacesuit helmet. So her suspicions are /quite/ correct/! Speaking of the captain, he grunts at Yumiko. "Can't. You broke it. Found a piece launched out past the blast." His subtitles say. "Been killing people to get data out of it." What a disturbing trade. "Not retire. Go home. There's someone waiting for me." What a distressingly specific thing.
Tomoe	Tomoe didn't expect a turn like this the Captain helping? She's not goint co complain she also keeps an eye on the image she's starting to get somewhat of an idea about this Captain's origins. She seems to get the ghist of it. She relazes a lot and looks to the console now paying close attention. IT seems to be a run of human history, and sars to get an idea from what might be going on with it. "So this isn't the first time these things have shown up, Captain? That being the infested?" She goes to get her burger to contiune chompoing on it. Between bites she notes. "Dunno maybe these things are bad news for them too?, Yumiko?"
Starbound Flotilla	The Captain jabs a hand at Hibiki. "You will go to the Beta Agent. You will not destroy the ship there. You'll turn it over to me. I will keep it. I will help you and secure the Neurovore bounty from Earth." He then shakes his head at Tomoe. "First time for Neurovores. Not the first time Earth has dealt with a xenofauna infection. Quarantine. Simple." Then he finally finishes disengaging his spacesuit. The pirate captain is someone that a few of the onlookers may actually know, though she's dressed in a farm more militarized. She's looking horribly burned by the events leading directly to her disappearance though, portions of her face and body are badly burn-scarred. It looks like some sort of alien picked her up during the awful fiasco, because her body has received extensive cybernetic augmentation to help properly enable speech through the wounding and other circumstances. Even still, herleft eye is injured badly enough to require wholesale cybernetic replacement. "Give me a moment." She says, now no longer having her gruff tones obfuscated by her hardsuit's radio into a more masculine tone. She leaps down out of her heavy mechanical humanoid hardsuit-system and jumps down onto the platform, then props her forelegs up on the keyboard and begins poking at buttons with her paws to enter data and a relay point to her wireless uplink. The identity now finally fully resolves and reveals itself.
Alexis Maaka	"...holy shit." Alexis stares in bafflement. "...you gotta be kidding me." She knows -exactly- who this is, more specifically by her calendar Laika should be more than dead by now. She promptly orders some vodka, and begins to pour herself a shotglass, then does the same for Laika. "On my tab."
Iria	Iria does a brief double-take, but other than that shows little surprise at the revelation of the captain's true form. She simply shrugs it off and says, "Well, we did what we had to." She sits back down and proceeds to take a drink of her soda. "At least things didn't get ugly..."
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima's jaw drops. It's a dog. An intelligent, cyborg, dog. WHo's been through some serious shit. Her eyes dart over to Alexis as the two have a silent conversation, the runner's eyes widening and she swallows, before leaning over to the counter. "A-and one for me. And a hamburger for the cosmonaut." Shut up, I'm not crying, you're crying.
Staren	IT'S A DOG Staren immediately makes the connection to animals sent into space in the mid 20th century, though he comes to a partially wrong conclusion: Clearly, in THIS world, since 'early' tech is so advanced, they uplifted the dogonaut with cybernetics, enabling her to actually finish her mission. Initially he thinks, surely anyone she knew is long gone... but no, isn't this game set in the mid-20th century? It hasn't been that long. If she had a master on Earth, they'd still be alive. (He sets aside the issue of uplift rights and whether she should be indepentant aside as 'not considered by the game developers') This doesn't really change things -- they're still working together to stop the neurovores. He does relax a bit though, no longer much concerned that she'll attack. This seems like someone the game writers would peg as heroic.
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko reaches up to cover where her mouth would probably be. "Oh my god." On the one hand, dog operating computer with paws! On the other hand, horrible burning disfigurement. This leaves the OL operating the avatar with some conflicting feelings. The cyborg bits are just kind of freaky. Well, well. Well. "So, we get the key item, and you get the ship. That's straightforward enough."
Tomoe	Tomoe also knows who this is, as she stares in shock and always thought it was tragic about how Laika was such a good girl left to die. She listnes to Laika and nods simply at hr as she gives futher details. "My god, your...your ... Laika!?!" She seems to know who this is from her reaction.
Sanary Rondel	Although Sanary's still generally lost about the whole situation, the fact that there is indeed a cyborg space dog right there is enough to hit the healer right where it hurts! Sort of. At the very least, she's definitely looking a lot more willing to play along with whatever she's asking for. She nods towards Kyoko as she puts out the fairly straightforward-sounding plan, then turns over to... "... Laika, was it? Er... Yeah, I'm on board with this, I guess. Is everyone else?" She looks towards the rest of the group for confirmation, although judging from Tomoe, Iria, AND Alexis recognizing her? That's probably good enough.
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki's struggles, token as they were, stop as the room goes silent save for the various exclaimations. Nori and the other Knights, somewhat more grounded in reality than their somewhat innocent leader, simply stare in surprise. None of them had expected anything like this, though they were unfamiliar with the theme and with the past-history of the group and so their surprise isn't quite as intense as those more intimately-involved. Yuuki peers, Nori's fingers having dropped away. The joke was one thing, but there's really no need to shield Yuuki's eyes here. The little imp blinks, then her jaw drops. "OH!" she says, startled, then closes her mouth with an audible snap. Suddenly she's glad she didn't offer further violence and mayhem to the Pirate Captain. Not that she has any objections over duelling, or any hard feelings for having fought in the past. No, that was in the past. But she's also not unfeeling and has no desire to add further to Laika's long and distressing past. She nods to Kyoko's plan. Sure they could just send the dog home, but no... that's no good. This dog deserves to go home a HERO, having accomplished a good thing! "We'll help!" she agrees without reservation. She doesn't really know Laika's past, doesn't know what's going on, but she doesn't need to. She's crossed swords with the Captain, and she can read determination even in a cyberdog's eyes. This is the face of someone who intends to do something. Something with meaning. The only possible response is to help her.
Septette Arcubielle	Septette's reaction is muted considerably by her lack of familiarity with Earth's history. 'Cosmonaut', 'Soviet', 'Laika'- those words don't mean much to her. What she does understand, however, is that this is an adorable fluffy dog, and a dog who has been through a lot. The idea of a loyal servant still trying to return home... Yeah. That's enough to soften her tone, too. "Consider the incident behind us, then," she replies, folding her arms behind her back as she watches Laika type. "I think we can apply a lighter touch here. Everyone can get what they want from this." Her eyes drift over to Tormod, too- or what's left of the machine-brain, anyway- and she crouches down to the level of its screen. "Hey there, little buddy," she says, a little awkwardly. Seems like she feels more of a connection to this kind of AI than she did towards Dimwatt, strangely enough! "Normally, I'd feel compelled to put a stop to your little omnicidal schemes, but... well, we can hash all that out later, I guess. You accomplished some really impressive things out there in that asteroid field, you know- building a huge, adaptable craft like that... think you could put together something else like that for us, if we turn you lose on some resources?" She pokes a limp cheese fry at the berserker's monitor, as if to reinforce her point.
Starbound Flotilla	The dog gives Maaka and Yumiko an incredulous look, but seems to accept their generous offer of food and drink. Between segments of typing, she laps at her cup and does some rather famished chomping at her hamburger. Her Russian vocalization translates quite literally when she says, "Thanks." Terse, but grateful. As she communicates with Nostromo in Russian, she begins to offload data from her eye's internal storage. "Nostromo says the target's hypermobile. Need to run a raid at high speed. Fully automated target." She says, as she exchanges some data. "We'll need a high speed raider, then enough firepower to punch through automated defense. We'll go together. I get the ship, you get the Beta Agent."
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima reaches into one of her belt pouches, pulling out a heavy duty commlink, looking something like a ruggedized smartphone. She unlocks it, fiddling with some of the internal settings, before it reboots with a cheery trill, the screen displaying the new user setup. She reaches out and places it on the console next to Laika. "Here, this should let you talk to us on the comms network. It's only a basic model, but it'll do the job. You can even plug it into your augments so you can control it easily. You know..." She sighs, looking down at the floor again. "I'm sorry for pulling a gun. I just saw you had..." She nods towards the TormodTV. "And if there's anything I can do to help you, with this or anything else, assuming you'll have me..." The hardened shadowrunner's gone entirely, leaving the young woman Yumi is underneath. People getting fucked over by the corps happens but... Not to this extent. "High speed.... I could do that."
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki grins fiendishly. "High speed is my specialty!" she claims. "Firepower... well okay, I've got some. But most of you are likely better! I have to get REALLY close to do any damage..."
Alexis Maaka	"Consider it a deal, Laika." Maaka nods. She seems pretty okay with letting Laika get some space closure. "What happens next is up to you, I suppose."
Starbound Flotilla	Septette gets some attention to Tormod, who has been set aside. It -- he? she? -- seems still aggressively hostile, but more in a defensively aggressive way. It "swivels" its perception around to her and makes a sort of hatefully stressed tone, though one that's becoming just slightly exhausted. There's some pausing, before it strains to synthesize another "coherent" response. A clip of a factory exploding. A clip of a crowd booing. A clip of men entering a factory. A clip of a studio audience cheering a game show winner! Then the screen flickers between several Home Shopping Network channels advertising power tools and other suchlike. Apparently it needs... Equipment? This is just some kind of processing unit, it looks like. Then, as if to demonstrate, it begins... Rattling. Dimwatt's bulb flickers. "BEEP BOOP HEY WHAT. STOP DIMMING ME. MY NAME. IS IRONIC." He calls out, before suddenly walking over. "SYSTEMS COMPROMISED." He says, while picking up the brain, and then suddenly... Planting it atop his head, where some sort of pseudo-magnetic seal locks it in place. "WHAT. WHAT IS THIS. YOU, ENDOSKELETON. PLEASE ASSIST. I'LL PROVIDE A THREE-- NO, FIVE PERCENT DISCOUNT. FOR ASSISTING." It looks like it can control some of the robots in this world. So if she can get it to a mining and/or assembly platform, it can do the rest for her.
Starbound Flotilla	The group has acquired two QUESTS: <<RAID THE RKV TO ACQUIRE THE BETA AGENT>> <<TAKE TORMOD TO A TIER 3 ASSEMBLY STATION>>
Starbound Flotilla	Laika takes the commlink gingerly between her jaws, lacking thumbs of her own, then hops up into her suit, planting it somewhere among her seating arrangements. "You pulled a gun. I pulled a gun. It happens." Her subtitled dialogue says. "Help me stop the Neurovores and get my bounty and you'll have helped me. I need to go back to them, nothing else. More details as we figure the situation out. Keep reflexes sharp, mounting an RKV is hard. Lethal if you're the least bit slow." Her suit encloses again, restoring that more ambiguous, masculine-sounding tone. "Help appreciated." She says in terse Russian sounds, but without overt hostility. She even gives a heavy and meaningful nod to Yuuki. Looks like a lot of the key players here who really want to help Laika are also really fast in reflexes, perfect to suit the job.
Yumiko Kojima	Yumiko Kojima nods back. She's not exactly sure how to do this but... The soviet space program was the military, right? She snaps a salute, right hand whipping up to just above her eyebrow, holding it for a moment before she drops it again. "We'll get you home to them. I promise." Not crying, nope. Not at all.
Septette Arcubielle	Septette doubles over, one hand on her nonexistent abdomen, the other clenched over her mouth in an effort to keep herself from breaking out in schadenfreude-inspired gales of laughter. Finally, she composes herself enough to give a coherent reply, still quivering slightly with repressed mirth. "Five percent discount, and purge the words 'beep boop' from your voice synth library- then it's a deal. C'mon, Tormod- joyride over." She pries Tormod off, cradling the machine-brain under her arm and even giving it a couple of reassuring pats. "We'll get you someplace you can pull yourself together- no worries about that. Just sit tight for a while, little buddy." Hopefully with a bit of reassuring and patience, she can dial back its omnidirectional rage into a kind of simmering grouchiness? That's the intent, anyway. With the Von Neumann probe in hand, she nods to the dog respectfully. "'Slow' doesn't describe many people here, Captain Laika. I think you've found the right people for that job. I wish you best of luck out there." Laika doesn't really seem like the type to care for anything warmer or more comforting than that, but there's still an unmistakable sympathetic, almost maternal tone in her raw synthetic voice.
Tomoe	Tomoe looks to Laika for a moment. "Sounds like angreement to me Lika." She notes to the uplifed cyborg dog. She also now goes back to finishing up her burger and orders another side order of rings.
Starbound Flotilla	Dimwatt seems to be quite resentful of having his key vocabulary stolen from him, but he accepts this begrudgingly. Tormod detatches with the berserker's usual angry noises, but it's not difficult to disconnect them. It seems... Still quite hostile in the noises it makes with each pat, but not hostile in any way that's making it inclined to reject the help. Just, lacking much ability to think any other way. The chance for Tormod to reassemble will come later. For now, Septette can keep it in the Spacebar or wherever else she may be inclined to leave it. Right now, its screen displays a variety of ancient cheesy UFO footage as it thinks heavily about restoration of a ship-body.