Dedrik Vals's Story

Regina

After leaving the infirmary, Reggie stood in the hallway trying to decide which way she wanted to go first. Discussing these matters with her crew were very important, but she had to meet the graduates. She glanced over towards the hangar, her first impression should be a good one. But then turned to looked towards where the kitchens were. According to MAK, that's where they were. Her duty as a Captain was strong; her responsibilities to her crew were very important to her.

But it would have to wait.

Her crew was capable. And she knew that her crew could handle maybe an hour without her. At least she hoped. She turned and made her way to the hangar elevators. Her leg buckled beneath her and Reggie had to stop and realign her leg. She pressed her palm to the wall and put pressure on her leg until she felt a POP. She sighed, the relief outweighing the pain.

She waited until she could walk properly before making her way to the hangar once again. It felt nice to walk straight, to not have to limp her way down the hall. She felt like she was taller, her back straight and shoulders back. It was like she had transformed into a different person, just by popping her knee back into place.

Reggie finally arrived in the hangar and was almost too pleased to see the amount of graduates waiting on her ship. She had to resist the urge to clap with excitement. "Wow," She said stepping up to Colin. He was assessing the graduates, his arms crossed over his chest. "They really expanded the race of recruits." Reggie commented.

The IDA used to be a human exclusive school until many alien races petitioned to make it a galactic school. Every recruit had to pass the entrance exams to get in, but any race was welcome now. Reggie made note of all the several races, before finally stepping forward.

"Welcome to the Nightwing," She called. "I'll be your captain, Captain Oris. All of you will address me as such. Unless I really like you, and I will allow you to call me Regina." The group laughed, and Reggie couldn't help but smile.

"We'll be going on a very important mission. We will be making several ports before leaving the outer rim of the charted universe. The planet we are traveling to is unknown, but we have reason to believe that it is Earth. The lost home planet of the human race. Although, some of you are not human, your skills and knowledge will be helpful on this journey. If you wish to stay, please, follow my second in command, Colin, to the barracks."

She turned to Colin and smiled. "He will give you a tour of the ship." She turned back to the graduates. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to speak with the other members of my crew. I hope you will all enjoy your time here."

Dedrik stood amongst the other recruits in the hangar. Off to the far side, he simply acted as a spectator to the many conversations and happenings amongst other graduates that had gathered. He listened with an emotionless face to their excited inquiries about where they could possibly be going, they ideas about what was beyond the steel walls and stale air of the station. It was all so exciting for everyone, and Dedrik shared in this feeling, but failed to show it. Glancing around he took in his scenery as well, the hangar was exquisite, but looked nothing of the high class battle frigates or command ships he'd ever seen, simulator or not. The ship alone on the outside was spectacular from what he saw through the windows of the station as well, but it reminded him of a modified civilian vessel. Whether or not it was truly didn't matter, he was simply making silent observations.

His golden eyes crossed over the doors of the hangar as they opened and a man walked through. For now he was silent, standing and simply checking over the recruits before him. Dedrik concluded that he was some sort of high rank, but apparently not high enough to merit any sort of special treatment as far as falling to attention; that or the buzz of excitement had totally caused a lapse in everyone's memory and thus they completely forgot or simply disregarded any sort of standard protocol as to a C.O. being present. For now however, the man technically wasn't anything of the sort... Technically...

A woman followed next, and Dedrik raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The way she carried herself definitely had an aura of command and authority. He had no issues with working under a female Captain, and simply by her stance he could tell she was of such a commanding rank. Instinctively, Dedrik snapped to attention, not necessarily caring if anyone else did or not, his boots coming together at the heels and toes, his chest protruding slightly as his back straightened and his right arm fell to his side. His left arm still clung tightly to the large power-staff he carried, though the name intrigued him as it was more of a halberd or over-sized axe than a staff.

She spoke now, confirming the man's thoughts as she introduced herself as Captain Oris. She then made a joke about what people were to address her as. Dedrik fell to ease now and allowed himself a smile, but nothing more. As usual, a quick debriefing was in order, and Dedrik listened carefully, noting destination and anything else of value. He was a bit leery about traveling to an unknown planet, possibly Earth, but the idea wasn't bad nor did he particularly care about where they were heading to.

If you wish to stay, please, follow my second in command, Colin, to the barracks. He will give you a tour of the ship. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to speak with the other members of my crew. I hope you will all enjoy your time here."

Colin, second in command. Dedrik thought as much. He was about to follow the group when another recruit spoke up, an odd looking creature, one he'd never seen except in images. He'd definitely not seen him during any training, which he thought was odd. Normally he noted each and every face, name and mainly person that was there. The recruit stepped forward, isolating himself from the rest as he held out a jar of something that was obviously of value. The man tilted his head slightly as he watched, but thought nothing more. His grip on the staff tightened and relaxed slightly as he awaited to be lead away on this tour, then followed obediently.

Dedrik followed the crowd as the were lead away. The ship was gorgeous on the inside, and though normally he didn't care about aesthetics, he didn't mind. The fact that the interior was so well designed as far as he could tell was simply another luxury that'd make the job a little more pleasurable.

He continued on, being trained from such a young age and having had the proper way to carry yourself no matter what you're doing engrained him in, he held the his powerstaff diagonally across his chest, one hand clasped around the shaft just at his waist, the other near his shoulder. His boots tapped rhythmically off the floor, mixed into the other recruit's steps. Being also highly attuned to the things around him, Dedrik also noted several people joining into their line who weren't recruits, most likely being already part of the established crew he concluded. He payed no further attention the humans.

They arrived in the kitchen moments later, the large number of recruits having to take a moment to arrange themselves in the space. Dedrik's golden eyes flicked back and forth, taking in every detail of his surroundings. His gaze fell on those already present and wasn't too surprised to find they were also of varying races. Dedrik dug into his memory, searching out the correct names as he looked to them. There was a pink girl, totally pink, he took a moment before the term Shariva appeared in his brain before looking to the other woman, a Firni. His head tilted just slightly as he looked her over, using the tell-tale freckles upon her face to find the proper name for her species. There was an android, the tattoo upon his wrist giving it away as clear as the others, and what appeared to be another human male. It seemed all were enjoying some dessert known as cookies. Dedrik had never had the luxury of eating these, himself preferring a tough meat over anything sweet and he looked over slightly as the Captain appeared.

Dedrik remained silent as he waited for something further to happen. He had no quarrel with standing at attention all day and night, but did detest frivolous things such as this. All he needed was an order and he'd be satisfied. No matter what it was, it would be done.

Bond

Grinning from ear to ear, Bond easily pocketed his screwdriver and turned a bit to conceal what he showed Arc. Four tiny pellets lay in his palm, oval shaped, all brown in color and unmarked. They sort of looked like pills, but they were anything but.

"I call these, my BB's," he introduced in a soft voice. Picking one up, he showed her the size and simplicity up close. "What does BB stand for you ask? Beauty Bombs."

They followed the recruits into the kitchen, Bond noting just how many people were now packed within the space. Could his window of opportunity be any more perfect? Still grinning like a child, he handed Arc two of the brow tablets gently, closing her fingers around them and leaning toward her with a whisper. "On my signal...throw...then run back to the door. Okay? Your face does not need anymore beauty. Trust me." With a wink and an encouraging pat to the arm, he crossed the kitchen to where the Captain stood.

"Evening, Reggie," he greeted, making sure the recruits heard him use her nickname. He made sure Colin heard too. "How's it goin? All grand in Captain's land?"

He turned to Eddie and Saein then, chuckling a little and snatching a cookie from the plate before nibbling on the edge. "Quite the crowd in here, huh?"

Then he faced Minn, feeling only slightly bad for what he was about to do. The girl showed such pride in her cooking and her assigned kitchen area. But he couldn't give this up. How did the old ones used to say it? The phrase was ridiculed in modern texts, Americans of earth being quite pompous and obnoxious. Bond found the phrase amusing though and it fit perfectly, well, semi-perfectly here.

If he didn't take this opportunity, then the terrorists win.

He caught Arc's eye from across the room as he backed away to the opposite door. All he gave was a nod, a quick gesture, a twitch of the neck. She understood. Simultaneously they tossed their tablets into the center of the room, both scurrying to their respective doors to take appropriate cover. Bond laughed loudly, hoping Arc found safety.

The tablets tumbled through the air, two hitting the floor, one on the counter and one on the shoulder ofone of the recruits. Upon impact, the BB's went off.

The popping was sharp and quick, painful too for anyone near, though no one took notice of the noise or pain. The bombs exploded, as bombs do, in a fit of colorful dust, purple particles shooting into the air with green and blues, the dust becoming a fog and then smoke, encompassing them all in clouds of beautful colors and fits of coughs.

Bond couldn't stop laughing. He hadn't used a BB as a prank for years, since his expulsion really. He had used them on missions to distract enemies, but this...this was perfect.

He could not wait to see everyone's reactions.

Dlew looked around warily at all the people filling the room. Obviously these were new recruits as each were in uniform, and because collecting them was the only reason the ship was here in the first place. He hoped though that they would be nice to him, or at least show any sort of kindness instead of the usual cold shoulder he received. The android waited patiently, watching as nothing really happened for the first few moments. He noted Bond and Arc enter behind the crowd, as well as the doctor but didn’t pay any more attention otherwise.

Suddenly an explosion occurred in the room that set everyone into a shock. A huge cloud of colorful smoke filled the room, following a pop and Dlew just caught side of Bond ducking out one door. Dlew was on the floor with the sudden excitement, his only thoughts being that of the ship under attack as he heard several shots get fired off.

When the smoke finally cleared Dlew remained in his position on the floor, shaking slightly. It took a moment for him to realize everything had settled and slowly he uncurled himself and rose to his feet. Looking around he also then realized that it was nothing more than a prank. Dlew shakily took his seat, his mind still racing as to who had just done this. It seemed Eddie was wondering the same thing as he called out most likely everyone’s thoughts. The android switched topics now, deciding it better to think about finishing the picture of Saein and Eddie while the image was still fresh. Perhaps he’d do that.

Dedrik had watched with mild interest as one of the supposed crew members spoke to another, a girl. Both were human and his eyes were locked on them, watching sideways as he handed her something before making his way to a second door. Dedrik was trained to find any sort of suspicious actions like this and take it seriously. His hand tightened on the shaft of his staff as the man spoke nonchalantly to the Captain, addressing her informally in the process. He was either joking, or showing serious disrespect, and no doubt whatever he was planning would only further hurt his current position. Dedrik was ready to move at a moments notice.

Suddenly the man threw something. A loud pop was audible as one of the odd projectiles bounced off a shoulder of a recruit. Dedrik didn't catch where the other impacted. A thick cloud of colorful smoke, more than he'd expected, poured from the tiny pellets and quickly overtook the room, the expanse of it encompassing nearly everything and everyone inside. Dedrik under normal circumstances would've taken this act lightly, sensing that the gas meant no harm and it was most likely a prank against new recruits, but then shots rang out.

Immediately the Vasparti was moving, shoving his way past the other recruits as a few instinctively dove to the ground. He pinpointed the source of the shots, a man seeming to be shooting wildly through the smoke, most likely unsure of what he was even doing. Dedrik's golden eyes shone through the thick gas, attuned to seeing in tough conditions. The man had ignited his staff, the metal pole crackling and sparking with energy as it took on a blue glow, every second bringing him that much closer to the man. Something stopped him though, Dedrik saw it in his eyes, a transition from battle mode to a confused, more irritated state. He expected nothing less, but his own training had kicked in and he felt as if he knew the feeling of the man before him, acting simply out of reflex. Dedrik subdued himself and allowed his staff to cease its collection of power, stepping backwards into the line of cadets again as the man spoke.

"Who--Who the hell did that?!"

The firer's words were interupted by a cough as he waved an arm in front of him, the action a vain attempt to clear the smoke from his face. Dedrik glanced around now, seeking out the door through which he'd seen the prankster disappear through. He felt no need to speak as of now, but if it so happened that this little outburst was more than a joke in any means, he'd be sure to inform the appropriate person.

(OOC: Oh man, I missed the prank?! Sorry, I'm on a vacation, and this is like, the first time I got access to the computer. I just sort of quickly scanned through.)

"Shaah!" Rokunam cried as soon as the explosions went off. His instincts had went off, and his hands and wrists started cracking with crackling green energy as he ducked down low. His eyes stung in the smoke, giving him the need to blink. Though, as soon as the dust started to settle, it was then quickly and mutually realized that it was just a bad, prank? Not to mention it came with, consequences.

Rokunam's power faded, and he said in an annoyed coarse tone, "It was certainly unnecessary for the Mason to cause such a..." he took a moment to look for the word, "Ruckus! I do not think anybody benefited from such a, a," he was lost for words. Then, one of the crew members, the pilot, the Eddie Ackers, had held him at gunpoint. He even dared fire, but, it was empty. "Well, something like this was bound to happen, but the effects, at a perspective, haven't been too bad." He let his gaze wander to the Eddie Ackers and the Shariva, the Minerva Darv, "But at others, not so much," he added. A, troubled, history that he hadn't entirely understood. That wasn't the right way of putting it. He understood the whole concept completely, but, he always had a hard time understanding, how, social aspects were added in. That was a problem Rokunam had, when reading a person's past. He never really understood how the social aspects worked. He knew they somehow directly effected a person, even though it seemed indirect. Rokunam wasn't the much of a social person himself, in fact, his species was very anti-social. Friendly, yes, but not social, or, at least not in the same way most humanoids were social. Rokunam had always wondered if he should have started learning how to speak Slang or Ubby-Dubby, or Pig Latin. Perhaps he'd learn more.

Though, finally, the captain spoke up, ordering everybody to their stations. The Colin was again, instructed to be responsible for the recruits, and to take them to their stations. Rokunam turned his gaze toward him, but then decided it was best he got out of the kitchen, before he got soaked. Sure he wasn't going to short himself out, and he obviously wasn't in combat, but, it still wasn't a good idea to, well, "ignite" while wet.

Dlew found out quickly that the prankster had been the engineer. The man’s name was Bond, and Dlew did not like him at all. This man, the way he acted, it vaguely reminded the android of the raiders, how he had been captured by people aphetic towards whether or not someone got hurt, or if for instance they had robotic parts that were really sensitive, or perhaps they seemed emotionless but you beat them for fun anyway because they thought you didn’t have any feelings or emotions! Dlew was getting angry with the thoughts and looking down, he realized he’d been death-gripping the counter. Immediately pulling his hand away, he looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Calming down, Dlew sighed, trying to push out these unhappy thoughts.

It was about now that Dlew realized his mechanics had begun to seize up with the dust that had gotten into them, his joints now becoming irritated. Looking up, he heard Regina order for MAK to turn on the sprinklers, and then her attention was on him. "Dlew, make sure you're not exposed to too much water," she said.

Dlew nodded as he ducked under a table, though finding much to his dismay that already his joints were becoming extremely restricted, his movements slowing considerably. He simply hoped now that the table was enough to protect him from further damage.

Watching with his emotionless eyes, he witness everyone In the room get a thorough washing, the table doing little for him, but still keeping away most of the water. The Captain spoke again once it was all through, ordering everyone to get back to work and that they’d be taking off in five. Standing as fast as he could, he’d hoped that he could’ve spoken to the Captain before she left though in the time it took him to come out from beneath his shelter, she was already gone. Five minutes? Dlew knew he wouldn’t be able to get to the bridge in time and it would take him forever to get the dust out of his gears. Hopefully the circuitry in his head would remain untouched by the tiny particles, but he doubted it. He’d have to check after they launched to make sure no serious damage occurred. Deciding that he wouldn’t have enough time, Dlew now spoke to the AI. “MAK,” he said, “Couold you tell the Captain I might not make it to the bridge in time? My joints are acting up.” He waited for the AI’s response, and then began his slow struggle to his position, hoping that in the process his joints wouldn’t pop out or stop working completely.

Finally, after all of his work on the bridge had been accomplished, Dlew finally stood from his chair. Now was as good a time as many to go down to the hangar, and he needed it… Badly.

As the android made his way from the bridge, he estimated he was nearly halfway to his destination when suddenly a loud groan escaped his legs, the sounds of metal against metal shrieking before totally seizing up. Collapsing to the ground, Dlew’s arms flailed out as he tried to catch himself, though failed due to his arms being slow to respond. He hit the ground with a loud thud and slowly moved to try to unjam his leg, though to no avail as his arms ceased working next. “Ma –“ CRACK!

Dlew’s eyes widened as he felt a sharp pain in his throat, the dust now settling into his voice box. “No…” he thought as he desperately tried to get his body to move. More ear shattering noises escaped his gears as they cranked and cracked before finally a loud snap emanated from his arm, coupled with an intense pain that finally allowed him to move it.

Producing his Tablet, the android slowly and shakily set it on the ground in front of him so he could see what he was doing. Opening a program that allowed him to send messages to everyone onboard the ship, the android managed ‘help,’ then sent it to all contacts. It was then that his arm locked again, not that it was moving to its full extent anyway; so Dlew simply laid there, sprawled out on the floor in a sort of complete paralysis, hoping that someone would happen to open their message inbox. Fear was what swept over him now, he could only hope someone would find him before permanent damage was done.

The Captain was obviously unhappy with the outcome of events since the recruits had joined onto the ship and taken their tour. As she stormed out and ordered everyone to their posts, Dedrik gave everyone in the room one last good lookover before filing out with the others. Quickly, he made his way to the bridge and took up a position near the back, just by the doors. This is where he'd spend most of his time when unneeded, safeguarding all who belong in command of the ship and who are in charge of ensuring nothing goes wrong. He realized of course there are those who do this without working in the bridge, but under normal circumstances, they're less of a target.

In the time that followed, Dedrik remained tuned out to most of the conversation on the bridge, words that pertained to their course and of checks before finally they were on their way once more. The sensation of travel was nothing to Dedrik and he remained solid as a rock standing near the door, his feet spread, chest out and halberd held diagonally across his person. The Vasparti's eyes seemed to never move, though they picked up every last occurrence within the immediate vicinity of the bridge. He was trained well and seemed like a statue, but if he truly was, he was laden down with dozens of security cameras that didn't miss a thing.

The pilot seemed to have dozed for a moment before reviving himself and making his leave. This wasn't of much interest, so Dedrik dismissed it. The Captain was next to go, but seemed unstable. As she stood, it appeared as though one leg had given out as she fell back into her chair before falling entirely to the floor. The Vasparti was about to step forward to assist before she waved everyone off, denying any help. He obliged, though a bit warily and moved just slightly to allow her through the door, giving a simple nod in acknowledgement in respect to her and the authority she held. He did have half a mind to accompany her to her destination, but thought otherwise. If help was required, besides other recruits, no doubt the ship had some sort of alert system. And besides, he'd be best where he could see what was happening with the ship's controls and it's exterior and surroundings at his current post.

A long while had passed before suddenly a notice came through on his datapad, something he'd acquired when he had been admitted into the mission and arrived on the ship. He had yet to look through all it's systems and controls, but knew that it had some sort of communication. Glancing down, he produced the little device, and scanned the message he'd recieved with a blank stare. "Help" was all that it read, and immediately Dedrik was moving. He'd nodded to two other recruits before he left the bridge, a silent order to follow before he turned in a tight circle and exited through the door at sprint.

The massive weapon trailed behind him as he ran, held in his left hand. Somehow he'd managed to open a map on his datapad and eyed it carefully, determining routes. Now the only problem was figuring out where the call had come from. He had only one other option now. He knew the ship had an AI system, as the Captain had called upon it to wash out the prank from earlier and he dug around in his memory to find the name. "MAK!" he called, "Locate distress source and give me a sitrep!" He waited a moment for a response, hoping that the AI, being not a military standard would know of a situation report abbreviation. A stopped now, waiting before a voice answered him, giving him a location his datapad and explaining that the android has collapsed.

Dedrik nodded before rushing off again, glancing down to his datapad and working the best course as he moved through the various halls. It didn't take him long to arrive at his destination, and while it wasn't a bloody combat scene, he was still trained to respond for a worse-case-scenario with even the simplest happenings. Dropping to a knee, he was used to humans and hadn't been exposed to this model before. Remaining calm, Dedrik glanced up as footsteps sounded. He stood and eyed the source that he couldn't yet see, gripping tight his weapon simply out of a perpetual readiness.

Saein was relieved that Reggie planned to have the leg fixed soon, which is why she laughed with the captain even though she wasn’t sure what the joke was. Did Regina think their destination probably wasn’t Earth? Then why bother going there at all?

Reggie explained she didn’t mean to offend, and that she was worried about Minn and would like reports about any strange behavior.

“I can’t promise to report everything,” Saein replied, “but when it’s in her best interest, I definitely will.” She smiled back at the captain, while she wondered whether she should say more about how she would use her own judgment at times when there might be a conflict between orders and the trust of a friend, or that she should say Minn wasn’t truly a close friend yet but was most likely to become one. The captain seemed to already have the right idea about both.

Before she could say anything about anything MAK made a lot of noise and informed them Dlew had collapsed. Saein had already guessed there would be dust and water in his joints, so this wasn’t a complete surprise. She quickly grabbed a few things she thought she would need, gave Cassandra and Rokunam a ‘follow me’ nod in the direction of the door (Regina had ignored and probably not even noticed them when they entered) and ran after the captain.

Dedrik had already found Dlew, but apparently had known nothing to do to help the android. Saein dropped to her knees next to him. Her hands already almost touched Dlew to look for problems when she stopped. Touching Dlew would feel even less pleasant than touching any living creature not from Wen. Pretending he was dead or unconscious (which he might well be if the problem turned out to be something else than his joints) could make it tolerable until he moved. Telling herself he was only a machine could possibly work, but she had never tried that. After two seconds of these thoughts, she had the solution. “Okay, pretend it’s armor” she said to herself.

Dlew laid unmoving on the floor of the hall as he listened to footsteps approach. His eyes were locked in place and he couldn’t see who it was, but for now it seemed as though they were of no use. Another set of footsteps came next, followed by the sensation of someone touching him. Dlew still couldn’t move and every second he was fading. Finally he allowed himself to be overtaken by the darkness and shut his eyes, drifting off into what one could call sleep.

Dlew found himself standing in a large factory. He himself was wearing a lab coat, and suddenly a hand was on his shoulder. Glancing back, the person now spoke. “Hey, there you are Vito!” he said, “Are you coming down to the demonstration wing, or are you just going to sit there like a bum and stare at the 700s?”

“Yeah,” Dlew responded simply. “I was on my way down; I just had to finish one last minute check on the fluid levels and life support systems on the pods.”

Suddenly everything shifted with a swirling black cloud, and Dlew found himself staring down at a younger android, a perfect replica of who he was. In fact, it was him, accompanied by some other man. What the hell is going on? He thought to himself as he watched the two moved down a stairwell. “Are we taking the core drop or teleporter?” Young Dlew had asked.

"Well I hate both but I think it would be better to use the core drop. Just so we don't mess up anything." The other replied.

"Yeah, I guess that would be wise but I really don't like being dropped at those speeds,” said young Dlew. “But your right, the teleporters like to mess with the server, so death drop it is!" The young Dlew let out a laugh at the end, obviously intending a joke.

Dlew’s point of view shifted around so he see the man with his younger self, and noticed that he his eyes were a dark yellow hue and his skin bore small scales. Looking to his ID, he found the man to be Alex Ironwood. Dlew watched as Alex and himself proceeded through a set of small doors into a smaller room. Hazmat jumpsuits were lined along a rack in the center of the floor which Alex and young Dlew both put on. The two continued to the other set of doors at the far end of the room, and continued through them now, access being granted via their ID cards.

Past the doors were several seats, and Dlew chuckled happily as he joked, “Well, I will see you at hell!”

"Back at you, the Hell of busy bodies coming up with new android plans and mountains of paper work," said Alex happily in response.

"Remember we are part of that category." Replied young Dlew

Both of them now sat down in their respective chairs and strapped in. Pulling the two buckles across their chests in a V, pulling down a safety harness and connecting tubes that reached around the back of their seats to the sides of their hazmat suits, they were finally ready. After making sure they were completely secure, final checks complete, they both pressed the bottoms on the arm rests of their seats. Metal clamps clasped tightly around their wrists, locking them in place before the doors shut. Dlew was now forced back into his younger body and his finger was pressing down on a button like the one he’d just his previously. There was a click and suddenly the roaring of engines filled the air around him before he was forced back into his seat. The sensation was as if he was on the very tip of spaceship launching through a planet’s atmosphere into space, nothing like simply jumping into hyperspace.

It seemed as if a few hours had passed but finally the entire capsule came to an abrupt stop. The doors hissed open and the cuffs around his wrists opened. The safety belts released and slid up, and quickly Dlew ripped off the tubes and detached himself from the harness.

Stumbling a moment before regaining his footing, Dlew exited through the door and found himself in a room that was more or less identical to the one he’d been in previously. Removing the Hazmat suit, Dlew looked back to Alex who had just arrived. He watched as the man went through the same procedure to get out of his chair, watched him stumble a moment and then finally get into the room where he could remove his suit.

“You look like you threw up in your suit,” Alex said.

"Same to you,” retorted Dlew. “Why did you help design these?” he inquired.

"Because I am a master at bending gravity.” Joked Alex

"Yeah, I beat there are people here who are better and could whoop your ass with gravity projectors."

"Yeah, I guess you’re right, but the only reason your special is,” Alex stopped himself, seeming to remember something. “Oops sorry man, forgot you don't like talking about that."

"Let’s go," said Dlew flatly as he continued to the door. He glanced back only once to say, “You coming?”

"Yeah,” said Alex. “We don't want to get yelled at by the demons for being late."

Saein quickly examined Dlew. Quite a few of his joints seemed to be stuck because of the dust and water that had recently got in to them, but there was something else going on. He appeared to be ‘alive’, but he didn’t look ‘asleep’ in a normal way... There had to be a short-circuit in his brain! Where did the android keep his brain? In his head? In his chest? It wasn’t even obvious how to open those. Of course not, one didn’t want to have ones brain opened all the time by practical jokers. She had seen the captain do it, but... the mechanic hadn’t been completely sane and conscious at that moment. She wished the captain could run faster with that leg of hers. She also wished her species didn’t have a problem with androids and AIs with personalities in general, so she would have been able to fix things herself immediately.

“CAPTAIN! Hurry up!” Saein yelled down the corridor. “Cassandra! And, um, Exburnan guy! Lift the captain if you have to!”

As the others approached, Saein kept trying to figure out how to get to Dlew’s electronics without damaging. It was incredibly frustrating. Her fingers nervously searched the android body for a handle, a screw with obvious purpose, anything. Suddenly her mind shifted to Minn. Was the girl OK? Of course she was! What could possibly happen to her? This was no time to think about her love interest, she had to focus on the job at hand.

Right, focus. They’d probably need to move Dlew. “MAK, send a stretcher!”

“It’s already on its way” the AI replied.

“He’s shorting and I don’t know how to get in!” Saein shouted at the others when they approached. She wondered if Rokunam had enough of an ability to control electricity to remove the need to open Dlew immediately.

"If anything happens," Reggie explained rolling up her loose sleeve. "Take us straight down to the infirmary. Dlew should be fine as long as the circuit box is plugged in, and if I lose my hand the Doc will know what to do."

Saein didn’t like the sight of the captain sticking her hand into Dlew. It wasn’t just the risk she was taking that might cost her another body part, Saein had done such things many times and it made her feel more of a connection with Regina in a way, though she didn’t like when others did it. What she had real problems with were a person putting their hand inside another person, and the very concept of a machine made to resemble a person, a concept which was made overly obvious now.

She wasn’t surprised when Reggie improvised a switch with wet fingers and gave herself a shock. They definitely were two of a kind when it came to their ways of fixing things.

"Get him down the infirmary," Regina said to Cassandra and Rokunam. "He needs all new parts," She explained to Saein. "I don't think I have everything, but try and get anything you can switched out. I trust that you can operate on him, if not I will be down there."

Saein nodded and managed to keep the look of disgust off her face. “Gears are gears, manuals are manuals. I’m sure I’ll manage.” She wasn’t sure if the infirmary was the best place to operate on Dlew, her workbench seemed more suitable, on the other hand with all those sharp gears that might start spinning she really wouldn’t mind being close to the doctor. Before following Dlew on the stretcher, Rokunam and Cassandra to the infirmary, Saein stepped closer to Regina for a moment. “Captain, I like your style.” She smiled, winked and ran off, more excited to be working on a new kind of machine than uncomfortable about what the machine was.

Rokunam started talking about the mission with Cassandra. Saein didn’t pay much attention, she was busy skimming through a manual on her datapad. Soon she would disassemble a large part of Dlew, make a clean-or-replace decision about each part that she would take out, hopefully replace most of what needed replacing, reassemble him, clean the joints of his limbs, and then figure out the best way to test his systems before switching him back on completely. A plan for the fastest way to do it was already coalescing in her mind. With Dlew opened up, she could easily see what had gone wrong. His parts had been worn but still good enough for normal use, but when the dust had locked his joints he had strained too much, which had caused a chain reaction of things breaking.

Everything seemed to handle itself. The Captain and several others had arrived on scene just after himself, so Dedrik didn't need to do much. The apparent distress call was nothing more than the android collapsing due to broken gears, and thus he was swiftly whisked away in a stretcher, transported supposedly to the medical bay. It was finally after everyone had vacated the area, and the situation was neutralized, when the Vasparti returned to his post. He knew he could very well be standing in that single spot forever, but he had no quarrels against it, because if that was what he was charged with doing, he would. Sleep would be unnecessary for at most four days before he would need to be relieved, however until such times, and though because this mission was little more than expeditionary and posed little chance of attack, he'd remain at the bridge to ensure the safety of it, and those on board.

The sudden change in course of the ship caught the man off guard, and no matter how sure-footed he knew he was, he still couldn't help but topple to one side, having to use his power staff as a support to keep himself from flattening against the floor or wall. The AI's explanation made sense, and though Dedrik personally felt no need to have humanized robotics, he didn't complain. At the most, they spared lives on the battlefield when a mission was too dangerous for someone who truly lived and breathed, yet he wasn't totally heartless, and knew that they were still people, in a sort of odd, metallic way.

Nevertheless, once the ship had readjusted itself and Dedrik had gotten himself reoriented, he continued on. At this point he knew getting to the bridge was priority, though with the low-risk factor, he knew he could allow himself just a few moments of what could compare to a leisurely walk, at least to the bare minimum. The man was truly simply memorizing paths and locations, ensuring that if something did happen, he could respond with adequately, and with the proper amount of alacrity.

By the time the man had returned to the bridge, he had most of the ship memorized, and had just felt the mighty vessel pull into the docks. Several of the other crew members had exited just moments prior to his arrival, he'd seen them disappearing around a corner as they left, and thus he had the bridge to himself.

Silently, Dedrik stalked to his corner by the entrance of the doors and assumed his guard stance, falling to a rough attention and crossing his bladed-staff across his chest, held diagonally up towards his left. Once more he became a statue as he shut down any frivolous functions within his head, such as those that required him to attend to an itch, move a sore or tired muscle, and for the most part, anything that didn't involve simply breathing, listening and watching. He was content with remaining here until something or someone else required his attention, so the man simply heaved a heavy sigh and relaxed as he stared out at the innards of the bridge, and then onward out the glass window.

Dedrik was a statue, at least as far as anyone was concerned. The Vasparti stood completely still, unblinking, unmoving and at first glance it seemed as though he was refusing to breath as well, though of course he was. It was the sound of the AI's voice dispatching a warning that turned the statue into a man. Immediately Dedrik was off, his well conditioned form going from an almost completely detached state of rest, to a full-on sprint. Shouting out to the other IDA students whom boarded with the man was unnecessary, as they knew what their job was just as Dedrik did, and their footsteps, ironclad boots echoing off the polished floor, fell into step with his own as he navigated down towards the hangar of the ship.

Of course he wouldn't be fast enough, that was impossible, especially when positioned all the way up at the bridge. Still, the man pushed himself to his limits, almost skidding across corners and failing to acknowledge any steps, but instead simply leaping down them. The shaking of the Nightwing caused Dedrik to falter only for a moment before he had regained himself and continued on, his massive staff ignited and held in his left hand which extended and trailed behind him. The fact that they'd taken off was good, but then there was still the question of, was everyone on board who was supposed to be? Dedrik would find out in just a moment as he came bounding into the hangar.

Glancing around, Dedrik did a quick survey of the aftermath. From the far wall parallel to the now closed door, he could easily tell there had been quite a few assailants, though what he could say for their accuracy was questionable as their shots seemed to spray more than anything. The Android was there with a woman whom the Vasparti didn't recognize, but he could sort that out in a moment. Everyone else present he'd at least seen before, or so he thought. The man's gaze fell onto the second robot whom was standing before the doctor, displaying something on his palm, and then just seconds afterwards, the pilot had uttered something and then collapsed.

Once everything had been taken into account and then processed, which was less than a second, Dedrik acted. "Spread out," he said, addressing the few other IDA students who had been kind enough to join him. "Perimeter check, secure all passengers and tend to any wounded!"

With a nod of acknowledgement, Dedrik then turned his attention to the Captain who was top priority, as far as safety and reports. He approached quickly, his weapon slowly losing power seeing as it wouldn't be needed. Pausing only a moment to register the woman's tears, which implied that perhaps not everyone who was supposed to be present was indeed so, Dedrik cleared his throat to gather her attention. Snapping to attention and giving a quick salute before falling to ease, the man spoke.

"Captain," The Vasparti paused to allow the woman time to collect herself if needed, then continued. "Orders, ma'am? What happened? Are you alright?"

Before the datapad and plate hit the table again, all hell broke loose. Saein jumped up from her chair, onto the table, and ran over the tables towards the door. As she ran to the hangar, her hands automatically grabbed her gun from her pocket, unlocked it and set it to its “kill the hell out of things” setting. In the hangar, she let herself drop at full speed, slid the last few meters, aimed out the closing doors, and found out she was too late by a second. For a minute, she continued aiming at the doors, as if expecting they might open again and let through whatever had assaulted the crew, even though that was unlikely because the ship was now taking off.

Saein got up, wiped some dust from her side, and let out a string of obscenities that are best left untranslated from her language. Dedrik started giving orders. Since Saein would be no use tending to the wounded, she decided to help check that nothing got on board that didn’t belong. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and identified the scents in the hangar one by one: weapons that had been fired, blood, flesh, paint damaged by bullets, fuel... One thing she did not recognize. Saein gestured at Dedrik like she had been taught in military service, the hand gestures might be different from what was taught at the IDA, but the main point should be clear: “attention”; “possibly hostile”; “unidentifiable”; “ahead”.

For a moment Saein was in doubt what to do, investigate the possible enemy on board, which probably was nothing, or start fixing holes like she was told to. “Oh well, she’s the captain, and I’m the mechanic, not the pest exterminator” she muttered to herself. Louder, she confirmed the order she had received. “Understood, captain. Those who can tell a hammer from a screwdriver follow me or Bond to fetch some tools!”

There were a lot of holes, but which ones needed to be fixed first? Walls, floors and ceilings worked just fine with bullets stuck in them, except in extreme situations in which compartments of the ship needed to be separated from each other airtight. Broken lights were annoying but not essential. The vehicles in the hangar weren’t needed right away. The damage to the hangar doors was on the outside and would need to be fixed sometime when there would be air on that side.

It seemed best to just start on one side of the hanger and systematically fix the thousands of holes without priority, unless something truly bad would be noticed. Hangars were built to survive small ships crashing into their inside walls, so Saein didn’t expect any alarming damage, just a few thousand nuisances.

"All wounded to the medbay, the doctor will attend to you immediately. Rina, take the robot and have him fixed up. Alex, work on Eddie first, we need him. Everyone else tend to the ship, we have holes and bullets lodged inside, partner with Saein and Bond to get everything cleaned up. MAK, put us on route of the Othra Station. There are a few people I need to talk to. If you need me, I'll be piloting the ship. If there are any concerns have MAK message me. Don't let anymore people die."

Dedrik nodded, bowing just slightly as the Captain moved past him. Seeing as the immediate threat appeared to be neutralized, and because he received no orders otherwise, he was about to follow her. Safe as it may be for now on the ship, one could only conclude that if someone would be audacious enough to send what Dedrik assumed to be at least a small battalion, then they'd probably commission sweeper crews as well.

As far as he was concerned there was no reason to attack a peaceful exploratory ship, and he did have a few questions for the Captain, though because most were simply required routine checks, he could ignore them for now. Besides, catching the glance of a woman whom he could only conclude as the mechanic by her attire, it seemed other matters were more pressing.

The signal was an older code, but universal nevertheless. Nodding again, Dedrik adjusted his gaze, his brilliant golden eyes scanning everything and everyone before and around him. Most people had immediately gotten to work, those wounded were carried out, and all else capable of it were left to aid in the restoration of the hangar. Dedrik would've helped too, but he was busy. His concentration never faltered as he swept around the entire perimeter, scrutinizing everything he possibly could, and taking moments to silently observe each of the present crew members separately.

When the ship had finally re-docked at their new destination is when he finally ceased his search. As far as he knew, and speaking generally, if someone were of any threat then they wouldn't have been allowed on the ship in the first place, so the people he'd seen upon his arrival at the beginning were set aside, temporarily. It was the robot and other woman whom he hadn't recognized that were top priority, seeing as he didn't find anything or anyone else worthy of noticing.

Glancing up only once to the Captain as she reentered, and again coming to attention and giving a quick salute, Dedrik considered following for her safety, but knew if she truly required it he'd of been ordered to. He watched her leave with whoever else, though noted each face carefully. That determined and out of the way, he decided that his next task should be to try to ascertain if his source, the mechanic, knew who or what the threat was. Approaching with almost uncanny silence, he cleared his throat to gather the woman's attention.

"Sitrep?" he asked, indicating situation report. It technically went for everything, including repairs to the hangar, but he was concerned mostly with if there was anything on the ship that would be a danger to the safety of the crew.

“Is he okay?” Minn asked, referring to Eddie. “Wha-What happened?”

“A bullet hit him” Saein replied matter-of-factly. “Eddie is strong” was the most reassuring thing she could offer. Saein couldn’t afford to join Minn in getting emotional, not now. Repressing her feelings, she looked away from the girl. When she turned back, Bond had moved Minn out of the way a little and was comforting the cook. Saein squatted to look Minn in the eye. “Minn. I’m sorry, I need to work now. We all need to work now, to fix the ship, to help Eddie and the others, to get to a safe place. And we’re going to need you, everyone’s going to need lots of coffee and food.” She stroked Minn’s cheek, quickly got up and walked away to hide her own tears. It felt wrong to ask Minn to be strong.

Later, Dedrik came asking for a sitrep. Saein knew what he meant. “I caught a scent I don’t recognize, possibly a creature. If you didn’t find anything, it’s probably just something that drifted in when the doors were open. It’s probably n...” She stopped. “Just to be sure, though... MAK, check for signs of life in spaces that are supposed to be empty. Increase the frequency of routine checks to maximum. Ignore programmed margins of error for measurements when deciding what to report to me, report any value that is higher or lower than actual measurements during normal operation in the past. Pay extra attention to unusual things happening in or near the kitchen. Keep doing all of this until we have done a sweep of the whole ship.”

MAK confirmed understanding the order.

“There’re a lot of bullet holes, but nothing dangerous” Saein continued to Dedrik. “What do you know about who attacked us? Who is down? Who did we lose?”

She listened and nodded while Dedrik concisely gave her the information he had. Meanwhile, her hands worked on replacing a floodlight that had been destroyed by a bullet. Restoring the light would make fixing everything else in the area easier.

Saein did not like what she heard from Dedrik and the crewmembers working around her. How dare the Intergalactic Council attack a ship on a peaceful and legal mission! It was outrageous! It was disgusting! It was undemocratic! It was... time to let some friends know what was happening. “MAK, I’m going to dictate a letter that I want you to put on my datapad. I’ll use that to encrypt it, so don’t send it anywhere else.”

“I’m listening” MAK responded.

Much later, on Othra station, Regina received a message:

From: anonymous relay

Captain Oris,

We are a privately owned company under the jurisdiction of a government that is independent of the Intergalactic Council. We have been made aware of your mission and the attack on your crew. We are sorry to hear about the crew members you lost.

Apart from our offended sense of justice and the belief that completion of your mission may be profitable to us in the future, we have other reasons to wish to assist you, which we cannot disclose in this message.

We wish to transfer one of our employees to you. She will be an excellent intelligence officer. Furthermore, once she is on your ship, we will inform both the Intergalactic Council and our government that she is there. This means that as long as you don’t engage in activities that are illegal according to the laws of our government, any further attack by Council guards will be a violation of international treaties and may be considered a declaration of war. We don’t know if the Intergalactic Council will care, but we consider it worth trying.

If you don’t want our employee on your ship, you may send her away, and we will not interfere with your mission again.

Wherever you are when you receive this message, do not stay there for long. This message is difficult to trace back to us, but might be easy to intercept. Do not wait for us, we have a way to find you.

Be safe, and good luck.