The Long Journey Home

[Arthur Campbell]

If we're lucky it'll just be a technical fault with the comms. So we can knock on the door offer a a rewiring and be on our way. Though given our recent luck I suspect something will have gone wrong.

As he finished equipping himself he looked at his squadmates and smiled.

So...anyone fancy making a bet on what's gone wrong?

 

[Alexander Bauhdric]

Alexander smiles sheepishly, nodding his head

"Good work is rewarded, team; still, I will learn to differentiate the pair of you eventually...I'm thinking of ways to do it now..."

He offered them a devilish smile, before turning to Arthur, strapping his armour on as soon as it becomes available to him, the image of rippling muscles now covering his previously bland armoured suit, his helm plumbed with long white ribbons.

"I'm reckoning communication glitch, though I can't say I'm a gambling man. It pays to be safe, so we'll do this by the book. Go out, I'll 'breach' the door, and Mr and Miss Mourissette will clear if we encounter any problems. Arthur, I'm not sure explosives will do much good, but if you can do anything to help us resist any detonations we may walk into, please do so. But, realistically speaking, Miss Mourissette will be invaluable if it just turns out to be a glitch."

As soon as his helm is on, he radios back to Ghost, using the clearer on-board communicator of the MDA

"That sounds like a splendid idea. Using the conference rooms will be much more efficient than using the Armoury; I'm sure our quartermaster deserves at least a little rest from our almost permanent presence!"

 

[Universal_narration]

Armory

Echo squad gets suited up are let out of the airlock with cords to let them stay attached to the ship. The wanderer has slowed down so as not to leave the small vessel behind. It doesn't looked damaged at all from the outside though its engines are off.

OOC: The ship is the standard 5-8 people carrier. It has an airlock on board and some spaces for gun or equipment modules though they are currently empty. Jumping towards the ship away from the Wanderer might give you a better view.

Plane

Spoiler

Sarah is still taking the situation in, though has big happy glowing eyes instead of being shocked. She just nods to any questions you are putting up on screen and waits relatively patiently (for her) for a reply.

On the screen some text comes up. We attacked you because you have resources that we need, you are prey to be eaten are you not?

I was the helmsman of vessel VB-0483, you have captured my unit so as a precaution I have disabled the motor function so you might not tamper with me further. I wished you to connect me so I could negotiate either my destruction or my release.

As for the one that attack us, we do not know what they are. We call them 'hunters' as they attempt to hunt us and kill us.

Mess hall
There is a few people from Starseeker here, the only one that Ghost recognises though is Aleksandra who is talking to a purple haired girl.

 

[Mikhail Zhukov]

Spoiler

Mikhail mutters under his breath

Helmsman? Well that proves me wrong about me being wrong in the first place.

He goes back to typing.

Well it seems our roles are now reversed. We need resources and information both of which you have. Destroying you is counterproductive although less so then letting you go. Am I correct in assuming that you are some sort of artificial intelligence? Does the cube poses any other functions other then data storage and interface device?

Mikhail stops to consider something.

Some of your actions up to this point suggest that you have some interest in self preservation. We cant let you go but we have no reason to destroy you at this point. So they way I see it our well being and yours have high positive correlation. Just consider that.

He turns back to Sarah.

We have been offline for a couple of minutes now. I wonder if they realized something is wrong yet. Also do you happen to know anyone who can write an VI aboard?

 

['Ghost']

Standing up after finishing his meal he places the tray back in the receptacle, grabs himself a drink and walks over to aleksandra and the person she is with. Taking a seat next to them

Not that I know much about VIs but Sarah here might be able to help if you need it, other then that I was wondering if I could speak to you in private at some point private Zhukova, there's a sensitive matter that I need to discuss with you. It's not pressing but it is a conversation I need to have with you.

He then takes a sip from his drink, turns his eyes towards the purple haired girl.

The name's Ghost, I'm captain of sierra squad.

Sarah spins around on the spot

I'm ghosties sniper and reconnaissance assisting hologram, but you can call me Sarah for short, everyone does. Pleased to meet you.....

The sentence left unfinished as Sarah waits on her name. A beaming smile as she hears the slight grunt from ghost at the use of his adopted nickname.

 

[J. D. Tsuba]

As J.D. finishes off his communicae, he strolls back to the table where both ghost and aleksandra both now sit. Nodding to Tami after their brief parting he sits down again.
'Good day fellow Sierrans, what have you been up to this fine morning?
While tracing patterns in the air for Sarah and generally playing with the grinning homunculus he turns to Ghost.
Ghost, I don't suppose you have any knowledge of the location of our last member do you? I have been trying to contact Mr Zhukov, but can't seem to reach his frequency.'

 

['Ghost']

Sarah follows the lines drawn, adding a little bit of flair when she makes a turn or flips. Turning to Tsuba

I spoke with him this morning before I went to the gym, he said he was running tests on the alien device he found on one of the wrecks. Going against my orders but there's little I can do about that now, where he was going or what he was going to do I don't know, he hasn't been back in contact since. But you say you can't get through to him?

He tries his communicator to try and contact Mikhail, and hears nothing but static. His face slightly furrows, then whilst looking down at the desk.

We may have a problem here, right now I can't contact him either. If his conduct during the fight is anything to go on then he's probably done something reckless, I just hope it's not something that's gonna cause problems. We need to find him, I will not have one of my squad endangering the lives of the people on the wanderer, be it on purpose or by accident. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Opening up a comm to the bridge

This is captain Ghost, I was looking to get a location on private Mikhail Zhukov's position.

 

[Aleksandra Zhukov]

OOC: Teleporting a sentence or two back.

"Of course sir." said Aleksandra looking up from her VI units. "Name a time and a place sir." She leant in a little and arched her neck, "You can always talk to me about anything you need sir."

She sat back up as Tsuba sat down. She smiled at him and said "Well I've not been up to much I'm afraid I can't help with Mikhail. I haven't seen Mikhail since the Chief engineer dragged Him off for 'fun' at second cycle."

She turned back to ghost. "Sir it's likely the bridge won't have a direct tab on him unless he's on a mission. It may be worth calling in on the chief engineer and seeing if he's still with her or where he went after their liaise, sir."

OOC: Would I need to roll a check to check the Logs for Ula's VI access or is it going to be a case of finding the correct NPC?

 

[Ray Ray]

OOC: quick question, can I bring my anti tank gun along? Just as a precaution. Honest.

"The engines are off...Somethings up, ey? Tactical modification suggestion, Cap'n; I'll provide covering fire if anything comes out when breached. Rey and Arthur would be better used elsewhere, perhaps to board with you, or attempt analysis of the rest of the vessel, ol' Bolas here can take out anything on his own. If there is anything aboard apart from Sarah and her bodyguard, we might have to resort to taking out the engines if they reboot. A last resort I assure you cap'n. But its your choice."

The mere fact that he'd been asked to do this with the rest of his team by Bart as a 'personal favour' seemed to stir something within him that stopped him joking and grinning like a class clown... Or maybe he was just trying to impress the 2 girls from the bridge by getting this impromptu mission right without a hitch. Bitches love action heroes. Yeah, it was probably the latter.

 

[Universal_narration]

Comms from the Bridge

Bart here, no we don't know where he is. I don't even know where you are currently. We don't keep tracking beacons on people constantly unless they turn on their emergency beacons. Have you tried contacting him? That's what the comms is for.

Mess hall

The girl doesn't bother looking up still inspecting the VI in front of her. "Tami, pleasure to meet you."

OOC: Science checks with any applicable specialities to go into her logs.

Echo squad

OOC: Tell me what you'd like to do as so far only discussion has taken place.

Plane

Spoiler

I have no resources in which to offer you. Information I have in bountiful supply. This storage unit stores my AI core, power unit and interfacing to my ship. The latter is now non-functional due to prior destruction of said ship.

I do have a need to preserve myself but not at the expense of hindering the others. That would be a betrayal of their efforts.

Sarah nods at Mikhail

"Yea I do know someone who can program VIs, not sure how well he will co-operate though."