Scene #7333: MISSION: CRYPTARK (2)

Owner	Pose
Starbound Flotilla	The Derelict Fleet looks like stars, from this distance. When one parks their vessel here, they can observe almost the whole thing. In space, that's a rarity. There's almost never any reason to have any one ship within visible distance of another unless they're fighting, docking at the same port, or playing an idiotic game of chicken. The SFV Mendacity II is here, cannibalizing the entirety of the capital warship. Segments have been separated, wings are unfurled into huge chunks of ship that gently spark where main power was cut. What once was a dead ship is now a dissected one. The Mendacity offers a nice place to talk this out, too, though. Large enough for its own transit-shuttle bay, those interested in learning the nature of the Derelict Fleet need only take the space equivalent of a taxi or follow a set of teleport codes to get access. They don't really have a place to have a Big Official Meeting on a salvage ship. What do you think they are, Letheia? Jesus. No, they have, like any decent blue-collar space-salvage ship, a bar near the deployment hangar and the cargo area. Thick industrial metal sheets are welded into place as tables and stools and chairs are mostly hand-crafted by Flotilla workers or, sometimes, a captain's own hands. It's well-lit, at least, and well-stocked with known and loved spacer brands. The Flotilla are here as well. George leans with his back against the bar, Albert stands sternly at the observation window and watches the salvage, Moonfin has an official-looking seat at a table where he's fitted a holoprojector, Biteblade and Seft are chatting in a friendly tone over late-night coffee, and Pavo is hard at work on a laptop, still analyzing the star chart Lilian managed to pull into the system. Let's get the gang in here.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Bercilak plays chicken with the Mendacity, but it's mainly harmless, if idiotic, japes, made possible only by the nanoskin provided by the crew of the very same ship. Specifically, he makes a few passes, buzzing the bridge, before finally bringing the bike into the Mendacity's shuttle bay to land. Clank. Clank. Clank. The Green Knight's heavy armor beats an obvious rapport against the salvage ship's floor. He makes a beeline for the bar, where, following a fitting payment, he helps himself to a generous pour of whatever spirit looks the most intimidating. We're talking goblet-sized, in whatever shape the Flotilla has that's close enough. Even if it's a gaudy licensed cup from some long forgotten sports team. With drink in one hand and his removed helmet in the other, he clanks his way over to Albert. "The hunte bipaste was a hunte overexcellent. Yon catail han defendens most..." Sssssip. He holds up a finger. "Perilous!" He grins with complete, earnest excitement. "I find it appreciable of mine iwarenesse, lanhure in some amountance. Hah." His smile is friendly, now, but a little more serious. "I am in wanstum of biknoueing, as art thou. Forthy, telle me of what thou misteren."
Ezra Mochizuki	Ezra's at the bar. He just showed up next to George at one point and nobody saw him walk in. Damn speedsters. After getting himself a light drink, he turns towards George. "So, what happened to you in there? What got you?" He's super curious, even if it's a little rude to ask. He'll talk to Moonfin after.
Lilian Rook	Though the idea of slumming it in an industrial-esque space bar like this is evidently unappealing to one of Lilian's 'preferences', the matter from before had been both important enough, and suitably 'impressive', in the sense of leaving an impression, that she can't turn her nose up at it entirely. Dressed identically to the previous outing, as if expecting to need to exit the ship at any time, she has situated herself to take advantage of the one redeeming aspect of this place: an unimpeded view of the sight of trascendental scope, and thought-provoking eeriness, the extraordinarily unusual nature of the site still far from losst on her. Over a drink she has somewhat rudely half-mixed herself with outside elements, she paces about until she is in the right positions to hassle the requisite Flotilla members about her personal, thought-of-as crucial finds. Namely, the star chart and xenoarcheological finds.
Starbound Flotilla	The most intimidating spirit here is branded with "Salt of the Wound", and displays a proud logo of a man with two bottles, taking a drink with one hand and pouring it into a wound on his neck with another. It is legal for medbay budget to be spent on this particular liquor, as it is technically useable as a reserve for some medical substances. The light drinks are blue-collar in nature. We're talking accessible Hylotl stuff, just a pint glass of something called "Ocean Depths Lite", bearing a three-red-eye logo and stylized text. Lilian Rook mixed her own, of course, and it's fancier because literally none of the ingredients here cost any substantial amount of money. These are men who are here to work, not taste, which is why they decided to lose their sense of taste with these fucking drinks. Each Flotilla member queried has something to say, before Moonfin offers the essential matter at hand.
Starbound Flotilla	Albert would be hesitant to admit he can't entirely tell what the fuck Bercilak is saying, but he gets some of the idea for some parts. "Damgerous. Mmmh. Sample was appreciated. Don't recommend extracting another -- not much more to learn, killing it is faster. Now between experiments on the brain. Some kind of synchronization with the drones. Their systems react when it's on. No wireless I can detect." He wraps his finger around his chin. "Need to look at the AI systems Majima found." "Haruto will explain the contract." That's what that position he asked about was, right? He looks to Moonfin, and nods.
Starbound Flotilla	Ezra gets his explanation. "Barely know myself. Lot at once, honestly. Hit that big brain-looking thing to try to shut it down and just got my ass swarmed. I'm usually good at outrunning an alarm, but man, these guys just coordinate completely! What a mess." George mutters as he takes a swig of something or another. The goblet-like things to drink out of appear to be made out of grips welded onto security helmets, which seems to be the right thing for whatever George is drinking. "Got pinned by those big guys with the shields and the rapid-fire, and that let some of those little sword guys really riddle me, y'know?"
Starbound Flotilla	"Nice finds, numbers. Don't know what blessings you got to pull that out of the system, but I won't look too hard at the miracle so I don't go too blind." Pavo says in an easygoing tone to Lilian. "Now, like I told the others, it turns out that star chart of yours, we could work with. I cleaned it up, did some miracles, extrapolated it, plugged the thing into our nav-AI. And you know what? Leads right to their homeworld. Right out on the edge of certified space. Here's where we are," She turns her laptop around and points nearish about 52k, maybe 53k ly out from galacity center. "And this fleet started wayyyyyyy over here." Over at 75ly from galactic center! "Wild, huh? Pretty long way to go. Would take us a month or two to get out there, depending on how good my blessings are feeling this season, so I just pulled the public survey file." She pulls that one up! "Binary star system, every single damn planet there blasted to hell. But, some of 'em are sized enough that maybe they had life on 'em at one point. There's a few trace atmosphere compounds on one of them, all carbon-fancy, we think they're industrial. Whole surface is smited to nothing, though."
Starbound Flotilla	"Now that we have most of those interested here, I believe it would be prudent for me to begin discussion of the nature of our endeavor here." Moonfin speaks up, spinning up his holo-projector, allowing its limited dome of projection-space to fill with light, and then display the motley selection of ships here at the edge of the Derelict Fleet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-E8h-ndNmM "This is the Derelict Fleet. Rather, it is a small segment, our first-contact zone, approximately four hundred and fifty potential highly lethal salvage operations. A little over one percent of the known fleet. However, by systematically analyzing all container objects left within the vessel you successfully disarmed, as well as certain machinery at the docking ports, we managed to determine some of their inter-ship supply routing. Their work was postmarked, so to speak, with language or arithmetic that is unique. This allowed us to find another sector." The hologram begins to shift, adjusting to a new area. "Tracing these glyphs, we were able to find a fleet sector containing much larger, more active ships, whose contents are more visible on scanners. I believe this signals a hierarchy between ships. While the trail goes somewhat cold there, these more important vessels likely contain more valuable knowledge. If we can salvage one of those..." "If there is a hierarchy and scarcity, there is command. A core vessel, or perhaps a core set of vessels, which must contain the most precious resources of what must once have been a fleet that was starved of them. I have a contract to offer: A chain of salvage operations, in search of this vessel or vessels, and the prize of this graveyard." "We have several candidate ship-types identified to potentially explore. Will you make your decisions about what might be best to pursue?"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"A spirit most stiptik," notes Bercilak of his drink after another hearty gulp. His face looks, at once, as if he's recovering from a sock in the mouth, and invigorated by the very same. He downs the rest of it in one swig, cracking his neck before placing the helmet back on his very green head. He pounds a fist against his chest. "Juste which the phisicien diten." He liked it, in other words. He listens to Pavo's explanation, clanking his way closer, empty cup still in hand. The leaves which form his cape rustle quietly as it settles back into place. When she's finished, he nods, glancing briefly towards Lilian. "Forthy were thei aflighten here-awei," he says, pointing at one of the blasted planets. "Or, per happes... aflighten to som other-quar, onli to alenden here-awei." He crosses his arms, reflected images of blasted-out planets slowly flickering on his visor. There are other questions, but those can be answered later--if and when they visit that star system. He quiets down and listens to Moonfin, as the Hylotl commandeers the hologram. Waiting until Moonfin is finished, he raises the finger of his free hand. "What am I to do with this cuppe?" He lifts his cup. It'd be rude to just leave it around. Once that's settled, he does have an actually pertinent question to ask. "By manere of questioun, thy devyses biloken ani-man that live 'pon the principal ship?" He's still hopeful that some of the denizens might be alive to question in person. "If so, I would maken recourse of ani who yet liveth. If not... let us knoue wherefore came rure upon their hom, hou-so-ever we might."
Ezra Mochizuki	"Well, good thing you made it." Ezra drinks quickly as he talks to George, nods, and then moves over to look at the hologram when Moonfin speaks up. "A contract, huh? I'm interested. So, command ships. I'm still interested in a factory ship, but..." A sour face towards Bercilak. "They're probably all dead. How they died is important for xenoarchaeology, but, I'm most curious in their tech. That stuff's valuable."
Lilian Rook	Nursing her sippable comfort for having to be here, Lilian seems distantly amused at Pavo's choice of words, though somehow without expressing confusion or disdain for any of them in particular. "I lead a charmed life." she says, largely staying quiet to allow the avian to explain, and doing her best to take in the star chart for as much use that memorizing figures and directions on the scale of double digit light years well help. "'Blasted'? How does that descriptor apply to an entire planet? The global nuclear war sort?" "Or are you telling me that they were running from something? And, all the way out of the galaxy?" In continued uncharacteristic obliging behaviour, Lilian remains politely quiet throughout Moonfin's elaboration as well. "Given the sheer number and size of vessels out here . . ." she begins, taking a few seconds to performatively gather thoughts and put them to words ". . . they can't all be from just one planet, can they? Even if one considers a total evacuation of the population, and largely inefficient use of space, it's a lot of ship and not a lot of precious cargo in stasis. At least as far as the ship we explored, and enormous amount of it was given over to sophisticated machinery, overwhelmingly given over to defense." "There must be some ship, or some segment of the fleet, dedicated either to transporting something precious beyond measure, or some indication of whatever it is that they hoped to find along the way. That, and how they came to be out here in the first place is still a mystery. I'd prefer to search the most complete databank you're able to find."
Starbound Flotilla	"Our drones have hailed or will have hailed every single ship -- a simple common decency gesture, of course. But none have yet responded in any way. If they had enough power for these drones, they certainly have enough power to reply, and none yet have. Even our basic fibonacci-sequence first contact protocols receive nothing in return. If anyone remains alive, at a command ship or otherwise, they are doomed by their own rudeness." Moonfin says, shaking his head a bit at Bercilak. Then he waves his hand a bit. "The tradition here is to attempt to throw it at the bin, but I find that distasteful." There is a bin for these "goblets", in that vague direction. Hey, that's how it goes! Can he sink a basket? "Gotta admit, got me curious about that too. What happened? I think... maybe we can figure it out without 'em, but it'd take a lot of work." George pipes up, before resuming his light drinking and listening in. "It is our hope that a command ship might offer the means to disable the factory ships remotely -- rather than forcing each individual to suffer the tremendous risk of personally disabling each such ship. As for the ships... well, you'll be quite happy to know that, while all those here may be dead, their ships are not. We found a factory ship -- intact, and with sensor readings for activity going on within. Not simple patrols, either. Heat signatures, only matching welding ativity, at bare minimum. Some production must yet still be afoot. So, one of our available ship-types is here:" He flicks the hologram, displaying: FACTORY SHIP. "Other sectors contain similar vessels; if we do not take this, then the next sector will surely offer something similar. The same goes, of course, for your own interests." He gestures to Lilian. "Curiosity is never-ending. It seems significant scientific effort still continued, well into this, ah, migration, invasion, exile, evacuation, whatever it may have been. A type of scientific vessel common to certain sectors has been identified. The majority of information we can extract is untranslatable due to the cultural loss, unfortunately, and so it will be a poor source of technology. Yet, a less corrupted databank? Perhaps much more likely." Pavo pipes up. "Gonna be a lot less profitable though! You want us to industrially rip apart a whole damn science vessel, you'll need to subsidze that a lil', y'know!" "Ah, unfortunately, yes. If you intend to pursue that route, the materials we can scan inside these science-type vessels seem much less valuable; considerable effort or outside funds may be necessary to make it a profit-positive endeavor." Moonfin says, shaking his head at the necessities of the situation. "Yet still, if you can manage it, we shall assist." "Of the other remaining types, we have identified what we believe to be some form of power station, and another type, some form of scouting vessel perhaps. We shall comprehend more vessel types once we have another vessel to salvage, of course. Those are the choices I offer now: A factory, a scientific vessel, a power plant, and a scout."
Ezra Mochizuki	Ezra listens to the listing, but he's already made his decision. "Factory. It'll be profitable, it'll have good information on how their tech works, and it's teeming with activity, so we can shut down whatever they're doing to organic parts in there. Should be a win for everyone, right?"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Bercilak seems of a similar mind to George. What did happen? Without survivors to ask, the next best source is the scouting ship. That might still have logs, destinations, something--nothing he can read, but, maybe, something Pavo can clean up, or something Moonfin can decipher... "The exploratour be mine own awening." He doesn't expect to do it with help. That's fine. "Solitarili shalt I conveien forth, if neded--I shalt not begrudge everinne their tresours." These people should be remembered, for better or worse, by someone. Their story should be heard. It fits that it should be someone as resilient to death as he, who helps bring about that remembrance.
Lilian Rook	"It costs nothing to be polite, though sanity isn't quite so free." Those are Lilian's first, dry words on the subject of hail procedures. "Whatever systems aboard those ships that may still be capable of returning in suit despite their lack of superiors to even speak to, I imagine they must be long gone, or quite off-kilter by now, if those earlier descriptions were anything to go by." She swishes her drink around in the bottom of her glass, staring into it rather than at the presentation. "Or they were instructed not to respond for any reason. For good reason. In many cases, you can't know these things until after the fact. Given how absurdly long-lasting every other one of their systems was, I can't imagine that all of their radios simply decayed away with age." The subject comes up about the comparative profitability of scavenging a production ship for crude profit, or the securing of a vessel of science for some step towards the grail that is a satisfying answer to the mystery that has been haunting Lilian so far. She talks over Ezra only a second after he starts replying. "Three hundred and fifty thousand. Each." she states, as a fact, not an offer. "Upon completion. I'm not haggling."
Starbound Flotilla	"Hmmmm... not bad to hit a scout-ship first, but I dunno if splitting off is a good idea." George says, shaking his head. "More time you take on one of these, the more time that brain spends online, overdriving everything. As far as I can tell, getting them done quick is a good plan. If you wanna hit a scout, let's hit it with a team-stack, keep it all good. Would the rest of ya be up for hitting a scout ship at some point? Guess that'd be more, I dunno, anthropological? Xenopological? Xeno... Uhhhh..." He gets a bit stuck on that one. "It would be xenoarchaeological. No further complexity. In any case, we have clear interest in three of these. Our ordering ought to be..." Tides abruptly shift strangely in a brief but quite intense radio conversation, which results in Ezra backing Bercilak's effort in a push to oppose Lilian! Moonfin looks a bit taken aback in his usual smug, contemptuous way. "Ah... well, it would appear we have come to a particular conclusion. First, an effort at one of the scouting vessels, and next, at a science vessel, and then at last, a factory vessel. If our needs in knowledge and material are not met by then, we shall plan further efforts, but for now, it seems, this shall be our queue of the contract." "Now is more relevantly the matter of who shall be the main signatory of a sustained contract, from now until the Prime Vessel or Vessels has its security deactivated. I believe Ezra, you had interest. Do the two of you have competing or collaborative intent?" Moonfin tilts his head, inviting the others. He notes the small division. A small switch flips in the progression of how events will shake out, but it's impossible to say what it is right now.
Ezra Mochizuki	Ezra's pissed, but..."I don't aim to oppose her." He says, regarding the contract. "I want to take it, and I am interested in this, but I have priorities. My chains, you could call them, I don't give a shit. My metal doesn't belong to me, you understand." He's talking to the room. "So, yeah. Whatever. Factory last. I don't care. A vote was /always/ fine by me."
Lilian Rook	After a Heated Capitalist Moment, Lilian replies "I don't care about scavenging the wreck of someone else's economy for petty cash. Doesn't this whole situation bother you? Interest you? Doesn't it strike any kind of emotion into you whatsoever? This is something you'll never see again. Most people will never, ever see anything like it. Whatever reason it has for being here, it must be extremely important, and if a less profitable vessel has the information, I'll cover the loss of revenue for you people myself." "If a scouting ship is going to help somehow, then I'll split it one part to three parts until we get where I want to be. Otherwise, I'd prefer not to waste any time." She waves vaguely. "I don't need a work contract. I'm here for more intangible -- you could say loftier -- reasons. I give contracts."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"So be it," says Bercilak, in response to Ezra. To Lilian, he offers his agreement. "We art in samen-tale. Tresour bihowe me not, liken ille am I to spoilen the ded of theire meagre appurtenaunce. I biknoue al-redi what chalenge theire devyses profren. Al that relefe be... immaterial." In a situation like this, there's only so much to be gained from looting. For those concerned with some sort of gain, knowledge would seem the greatest of the gains to be had. Their reasons for wanting such knowledge are probably quite different, but at least they can come to an accord on that. He clenches his fist, grasping at the air upon the word 'immaterial.' "Alack," he says softly. It's not often that he doesn't like the way he speaks, but... hwo to describe it? It's that certain something--perhaps they might find some inkling of who these people were. He places the cup on the floor of the Mendacity, extending his hand. In the span of seconds, his great bearded axe is constructed, atom by atom. With a deft onehanded twirl, he clinks the butt of the weapon against the cup, expertly knocking it towards the trash can.
Starbound Flotilla	Bercilak basically golfs the thing over into the bin, and George suddenly shouts, "Nice!!" He has the approval of the bastard uncle, at least, who finds it a sweet gesture. The helmet has a nice little dent in it, which matches the dents that have been put in most of those things. They'll probably be collected from the bin later, because they look well-dented. Moonfin heaves a siiiigh and continues on with the matter. "Considering that neither of you seem particularly motivated by monetary interests, I believe our most effective contractor shall turn out to be the swift Mr. Mochizuki, who seems to have the most interest. If you would, Mr. Mochizuki, please stay for a time while we draw up terms for your venture here." "And the rest of ya can stick around too! I've got plenty of blessings of knowledge to give ya, but I wanna hear what you wanna know about next! That big ol' brain, the artificial intelligence chips, or that purple goop from the tubes?" Pavo calls out, waving at the others from the table where she's working. Looks like that'll just affect those info-dumps of the remaining Artifacts, which will all get done eventually.
Lilian Rook	"I have an idea of what the purple fluid is meant to be." says Lilian. "Or so I would think, but while inside, I witnessed drones seemingly operating using the same stuff, rather than being wired to a skeleton of any kind. Fully manufactured machines. I can't tell what the full range of its properties are." She only considers for the length of a polite pause. "Obviously a giant brain controlling a space ship is of considerable interest. However, if we encounter another, I consider myself capable of performing that research myself. Consider that your least priority, I think."