Kanro's Story

Artyom was industriously working in what could be called the ship's robotics lab. To be more specific, it was little more than a spare room the bio-android had declared as his and filled it with all manner of useful spare parts to work on, a couple of which he had to give up in order to help finish system repairs to the Middleman. The rest of the crew might've been pretty shocked at such bold behaviour from a bio-android, were it not for the whole "fleeing for our very lives" situation going down currently.

Wondering how the crew was holding up after the worst of their ordeal was over, Artyom decided to send out one of his drones to patrol the ship. Each drone was round in shape, about the size of a human head and had a single green eye. They had proven to be invaluable during the running repairs that had to be made to the ship, being able to drastically lighten the workload for the skeleton crew.

Artyom continued working on a little project of his for a while longer, at the same time looking through the drone's vision and moving it through the ship. He could've sent a small group of them on patrol, but owing to the current lack of shipboard emergencies there really was no need. The drone checked each room before pressing onward to the next. Engines, kitchen, gun deck, armoury, its gaze swept across them all, checking for anything that was amiss.

When the drone arrived at the ship's cockpit, Artyom could see that their leader was in dire need of some rest. The drone moved a little closer so that it could get the attention of the co-pilot, if not Kanro himself. Since he couldn't find any speech circuits for remote communication for the drones, the bio-android had to resort to using the drone to give a few meaningful looks from pilot to co-pilot, indicating that they should probably switch places. With that done, the drone left to continue its patrol down the medical bay, and any other rooms it might have missed out.

Indiela's chin was rested in her hand. Her eyes, currently green, were fixed on Kanro. At first, she had been looking around the ship and carefully watching Kanro as he flew the ship. Every so often, he would use his telekinesis, which impressed her every time. She felt her eyes drifting shut and pulled them open once again. The boy's exhaustion was literally radiating off of him, and was causing Indie to become a little tired herself. Earlier, when they had met, she saw that his aura was a bright lively green. He was very much awake and ready to get this trip started, now however, it was dull and lacked any energy it possessed before. It almost looked like murky green water surrounding him. She began stretching out her limbs, receiving satisfactory pops from her neck and back. Some people thought it was gross, but she loved the feeling and sound of it.

Just as she was going to say something to Kanro, something came flying into the room. It was a drone, no bigger than her head. At first, she was startled, but then remembered Artyom, whom she had met earlier. These flying robots were his pets, or something like that. Either way, they listened to what he wanted. It's single eye moved back and forth between Kanro and Indiela, but she didn't understand. She stood up, ready to say something, hoping she could get some sort of answer, but it went away and towards where the medical area was.

The young girl let out an audible sigh and turned to face Kanro. His eyes drifted shut and Indiela felt the tug of unconsciousness. "Hey," she whispered, not wanting to startle him. "Wake up," her voice came, a bit louder this time. She nudged him with her gloved hand, hoping he would stir. "We probably should switch. You get some rest. I can manage here, I have been watching, and I'm a fast learner," she said, as her eyes faded to a dark brown. That was one aspect of her abilities that she let people know about, her appearance changes. That wasn't something that needed to be kept secret.

Kanro blinked a few times before rubbing his face. Indie studied him for a bit before he began speaking. As Kanro made an announcement to the ship, Indiela watched him. He voice was demanding and strong. He even sounded like a leader. He made a few comments that caused her to raise her eyebrows. His aura turned slightly brighter as he was talking, but Indie focused her eyes on something else. She was still waiting for him to acknowledge her. It was actually a bit frustrating. Finally, he stood, his eyes half closed. It was like he didn't even see her! He was standing close, and she had to look up to see his eyes. He let out a yawn and relaxed some. Indie could feel him relax, and it eased some of her nervousness as well. "I thought I only had four other people here besides myself?…You don't look too different from that…what was her name?… Hindi? I think that was her name. Only she was… ahhhh….prettier?" Kanro said, a devilish grin crossing his once tired features. He chuckled at her and Indie suddenly had the urge to slap him. Instead, she just blinked and tried to remember what she looked like earlier.

"It's Indiela, but you can call me Indie," she said simply, taking a few steps back. The thought crossed her mind to make him feel like an ass, but that would require touching him, and she wasn't prepared to take on his emotions right now. She scowled at him and pulled her hair free of it's braid and shook it out, like she had it earlier. Her eyes flashed a bright green, mirroring his aura. She raised her delicate eyes brows, "Better?" she asked, crossing her arms. She turned away from him and sat in the co pilot seat again. She closed her eyes and convinced herself her captain wasn't about to be a jerk. Ever so carefully, she mentally reached out to him, not enough that he would feel, especially since he was tired. It was no good, she'd have a look into his dreams later. She justified it because he had insulted her, and she really didn't know if it was a joke or not.

Indie felt slightly embarrassed for reacting the way she did, but she didn't let it show. Maybe she was just on edge for what happened. They were just a bunch of rookies and they were the only ones left. He seemed to feel when she reached out mentally. She made a note to never try that again to him, she couldn't risk him figuring out exactly what she was able to do. Compared to his telekinesis, her's seemed like nothing, but she knew deep down her ability was nothing to scoff at. She could make a man crumble if she wanted to. Her thoughts were pushed away when Kanro began speaking to her.

She glanced up when her mentions her "lovely chocolate browns". If she could remember correctly, that was the first time she had gotten a compliment on her true form, or at least the one she she felt most comfortable in. Then again, it wasn't something she really looked for or paid attention to. She snorted at the spy part. Of course she wasn't a spy. When he finished she addressed a few things he said.

"Kanro, I can only change my hair and eyes. I can hardly change my skin, I mean enough to be useful, but not enough to be a spy. And yeah, people skills are definitely important," she said and yawned. She rubbed her face trying to make the exhaustion go away. He walked over to one of the two cots in the room, so Indiela knew that he would be going to bed, and that would free her from his emotions.

"Now, personal issues aside… We're counting on you to navigate through these asteroids and into the station…" he said to her as he sat down. The young girl stood up and tucked her black hair behind her ears. The next thing she heard was all too familiar, but even though they were close in age, he still had the right to say it to her. "…That's an Order, Indiela."

Indie nodded as she took his seat. "Yes sir," was her verbal response. It wasn't completely sarcastic but it did sound a bit awkward.

---

After an hour or so of navigating and stressing, Indie finally made it in the clear. Behind her was a complicated maze of debris and astroids. She's never done this in real life, only in simulations. She hoped Kanro didn't know she almost always hit something during those. It didn't matter now, because she knew she could do it if it was absolutely necessary. She felt confident that she could do this by herself now. She had 10 more clicks to go, but they were moving fast, and it was all clear in front of her.

She did the same thing that Kanro did earlier when he made his announcement. "Hello everyone, we're coming up quickly on the station, so get ready to land," she sounded awkward and she worried they might not have been able to hear her. She pushed the thoughts aside and began to take the ship down. She pulled The Middleman starship into the hangar and got up from her seat. She glanced over at a sleeping Kanro and fought the urge to look into his dreams. Instead, she waked over and shook his shoulder. "I did it," she said. "I mean, we're here, and we made it with little to no problems."

Volf walked out of engine rooms after feeling the slight bump of landing. He then made his way to the briefing room of the ship with his scrap that he had collected, expecting Kanro, or whoever he chose to be copilot, to be giving everyone a breifing on how operations are going to be handled on the mining station. Volf had reached the breifing room to find noone there. "Well, the engine room is the closest to the briefing room." Adion said to himself.

Volf lazily walked out of the ship, with his pistol out. He then stood at the top of the exit ramp. Looking at the crowd he spoke in a very monotone voice. "I don't like having to kill. I don't like having to cause trouble. However, if I see a single one of you try to harm one of my associates, then I will personally hang you by your own intestines." Volf had figured that Kanro saying 'advance' meant either intimidate or attack. Since the crowd had not yet attacked Volf had gone with intimidation. He now began to pull out his scrap, looking for someone to trade it too.

Among the landing procedure, there wasn't really much going on that required Artyom's immediate attention. When Ninari attempted to greet him and ended up forgetting her translator was off, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards a little upon noticing what passed for a blush among her kind. Nodding in response to her greeting, he went to join the away party.

Why Kanro and Volf expressed, or at least implied, hostile intentions to the crowds was something of a mystery, especially when self-preservation was a big part of their mission. Excess testosterone, he figured. Although bio-androids did have hormones, there wasn't as much when compared to a fully organic life-form, hence the subdued emotions, which in turn provided capacity for more logical thought patterns. Sighing inwardly at their actions, he disembarked and stood outside the ship. As ever, it seemed like he was awaiting further instructions.

"Yes, but if you don't want hostility from me, you may not want to say advance. It was something I have been taught over my lifetime, that when a leader says to advance, it means move forward with guns ready." Volf said in an explanatory tone, but quietly enough that the crowd could not hear him. "Just thought that might have been the confusion, and when you have confusion, it is best to get both sides to understand the others actions." Volf then walked down into the crowd, and as a man began to walk towards Volf with his fists up, Volf pulled out his knife. "How bad do you want to test someone on the brink of insanity. Someone who lost everything they knew to what they knew. It is not a good idea to test those who never make a promise they won't follow through with." At this the man began to back up as his pants became a darker color. "Good." Volf said as he put his knife back in its sheath. Volf then sent Kanro a message on his tac-pad. 'Too late to change my image. You might as well keep a good one.'

Indie stretched and followed Kanro off of the ship. She was pretty proud of herself, but kept a straight face. Seeing the rest of the crew put a daze on her. There was Volf, who was surrounded by an orangey-yellow color. Artyom had an extremely faint blue-ish grey hue. It was strange, she had never seen someone with such a translucent aura before. She considered this a moment before letting her eyes land on Ninari. Her coloring was beautiful. Indiela hadn't seen many beings that didn't look like humans most of the time. The other girl was sporting a light lilac aura.

They each advanced in their own separate ways. Kanro let Volf know that they were the good guys, and intimidation wasn't necessary at this point. Indie could feel the anger and fear coming from the people that occupied this planet. One approached Volf and he threatened him, in a very.. subtle way. Indie folded her arms and approached one of the people. She casually took off a glove and shoved it in her back pocket. If she needed to use her gifts it would be less obvious this way. If she took off her glove, then immediately touched someone, only for them to get a sudden change of heart, things would be obvious. She started a conversation and asked where she might be able to find spare parts or weapons. Not getting any useful information she walked over to Kanro. He had given him orders to do.. something. She hadn't paid enough attention. "Any thing specific, Captain?" she asked, wondering what she should do. "Want me to just sit around and make nice with them?" she ventured, tilting her head slightly in the direction of the crowd. Most of them had dispersed, but were still milling around in the area. Indie thought she might be able to get a few pointers on where to find things if she asked a few more people, but she wanted to make sure Kanro didn't have anything specific in mind her for. Being so exhausted and very slight miscommunication with Volf seemed to put him more on edge. She didn't know him that well, though, and it still could have been his dreariness. She stretched her arms out, brushing his hand with her fingers. She pulled back immediately, feigning embarrassment. Really, she just wanted to give him a calm nerve. Nothing too drastic, but just enough to where he felt a bit better.

By now, it was obvious to Volf that he needed to give Kanro some time to cool off. Even if it was with good reason, the leader would need to keep a cool head. Thus, Volf went off to look for a recycling place or a maintenance shop, as both are always willing to buy scraps, the maintenance shop would pay more for it though. "I will give you some time to get a clear head before we discuss this matter further." Volf sent over the WristComm. He did, however, put his badge into one of his pockets. 'It might be a good idea to put that away for now.' Was the thought that was racing through Volf's mind.

After about an hour of searching Volf found "Big Edie's Mining and Ship Repair." Volf walked in to find the man who had previously tried to attack him. "Watch this one Edd. He's dangerous." Spoke the prior attacker. "Don't give me a reason to be and I can be as reasonable as any other calm person." With the intent of looking like he was more like the Hulk than like a berserker, Volf pulled out the scrap. "How much sealant foam can I get with this and 3,000 credits." Volf asked the fat man that his prior attacker referred to as Edd. "1 bottle." Edd replied. "Aww, now your just being nice, so I will accept." Volf said to Edd taking the full bottle and handing him the scrap. Volf then transpired the credits, got duct tape from the market, and then headed to the bar. After two drinks, which cost 10 credits, Volf began his hobbling, semi-drunk journey back to the ship.

Artyom carefully listened to the orders that were given to him. Upon hearing the mention of a reward, he immediately put gathering information on the top of the list of priorities. He was about to set off, but stopped when he saw that Kanro was having more trouble with Volf. Sadly, the bio-android couldn't keep the ship running by himself, so Volf's presence had to be tolerated, however begrudgingly.

When the Captain assigned Indiela to assist with the task, Artyom raised his eyebrows a little in surprise. He gave no objections, but deep down there was a slight cause for worry. Would his comrade attempt to take the credit for herself if he found out something of importance? Regardless, he decided not to voice such opinions and instead see how things went.

"We should look around for provisions first," Artyom said as he and Indiela walked away from the ship and further into the station. "I shall defer to your opinion on these matters; I am... not the most skilled in the culinary arts." Even though bio-androids could indeed eat food and also cook just as well as any organic life-form, there's always that one person who'd burn a salad, eh? At least Artyom could focus on overhearing anything that sounded relevant to their cause.