Zyt's Story

The gentle hum of the life support filled the engineering bay. The bay was dark, excepting two lights, one coming from the power generator and the other being projected around the silent, metal form of Zyt. He remained still, several of his armor plates currently removed from his skeleton of metal bars, showing his carbon and gold innards. Working on the stacks of cords, bars, walls, servos, and circuit boards were four small drones that normally hid beneath what most organics referenced to as Zyt's tail.

The drones bolted around the bay, seeming to pull parts from the pitch black curtain of nothingness just outside the reach of the minimal lights. With their parts in claw, the drones bolted around Zyt's exposed form, removing and replacing, repairing and maintaining nearly every part of his metallic body.

"I want everybody up and at their stations, we've got places to be. Especially you, Marx. The ship can fly itself, doesn't mean I want it to. Anyone who sees to do otherwise will be hitching a ride on the hull when we jump." Screamed the speakers as if the engines were running at full, disrupting the piece between the six metal walls. The body of Zyt did not flinch, however, and the drones continued their work as if nothing was going on. The weekly maintenance event was not something to be interrupted, and very little processing power could be allocated to responding while this event was in progress.

Zyt sent a message to the captain, making sure to make it in the holographic format that he normally used. The message was an image of Zyt as he spoke in a significantly more monotone voice than normal, saying "Engineer unit Zyt reporting. This unit is currently undergoing his weekly maintenance event and will not be able to preform any duties for the next fifteen minutes. This unit apologizes for any inconveniences."

After sending the message, Zyt remotely turned the lights of the bay back on. The tubes of pure white quickly filled the filled room the size of a factory, showing the various piles of parts that the drones were roaming to that were hidden by darkness only minutes ago. Zyt figured that the other engineers would be coming into what he considered to be his home soon enough.

The Med-Bay was completely dark, except for a small table light at the far corner of the room. A lone figure sat down by the light with a book yellowing with age, and black metal helmet placed by it. He made no noise except for that of parchment being turned, which he do so frequently. It only seemed to take him a handful of seconds to finish reading the page he was on and flip to the next.

"I want everybody up and at their stations, we've got places to be. Especially you, Marx. The ship can fly itself, doesn't mean I want it to. Anyone who sees to do otherwise will be hitching a ride on the hull when we jump." The figure stopped reading and looked up at the speakers after the voice finished talking, slowly digesting what had been said. He hummed slightly and tapped his fingers on the desk for a little while as he decided what he should do. He nodded and closed the book gingerly, not needing a bookmark to remember where he left off when he resumed reading. He stood up slowly and grabbed his helmet, putting it on his head carefully.

"Adam Link reporting to Captain Cassidy Laiho. Requesting the Captain to visit the Med-Bay," The suited man said, his tone rather formal and stiff, into a com-link he had by his desk. His voice seemed to have a soothing quality to it despite that, however.

"Low Urgency Level. No need to rush," he added as an after thought, switching on the lights in the Med-Bay and turning off his lamp.

"1,001. 1,002. 1,003..." Wes counted off as he did his morning workout, sit-ups. His abs are about the only thing he can work out, due to his arms, and legs being cybernetic limbs. He has to do something to occupy his time, because thanks to his implants he doesn't need but a hour or two of sleep. He was nearing 1,050 sit-ups before he was interrupted by his Captain to report to his station, in her elegant way as usual. Though even on her worse day she's not nearly as bad as Zaxt. He wouldn't even take the courtesy of warning you to wake up, turn off the gravity, and a bump on the ceiling would wake you up. Well that's on a good day. A lot of the time he'd crack open their cabin doors, and open the airlocks. That would just yank you out of bed, and shoot most of the stuff in you're cabin out in space.

"Here I thought I was going to reach 2,000 today." Wes muttered to himself as he hopped up off the floor. He grabbed a towel off the nightstand, and wiped off the sweat on his brow. He tossed it aside, threw on a shirt, and laced up his boots. He went over to one of the tables that was in his quarters, this one had pieces of his armor sitting on it, while the other had some of his weapons, with the bigger guns being hung on the wall behind it. He grabbed the arm pieces of his armor, and put them on. He then put on his shin guards, and grabbed his chest piece. As he put on his chest piece, the armor pieces began to expand, and attach themselves together and soon his entire armor was on.

Wes grabbed his pistol, 'Sally', and summoned his helmet. With that he was ready for duty. He strolled on up to the bridge to see that only the captain was there so far. "Do we finally have work, or are you just disturbing my workout just cause?" Wes asked with his voice deep, and distorted due to his helmet. He heard the message that Zyt sent to the captain, that was soon followed by their doctor asking her to come to the med-bay. "Well, things off to a great start." Wes sarcastically stated. "What's the point in having a robot engineer if it's not available to work?"

In the ships kitchen Lena had already been up planning the meals for the day, her small figure having been hunched over the small desk she had moved from her vardo to the corner of the kitchen. The kitchen itself had at one point been cleaner than a surgical ward and just as bare but ever since she had been picked up as a cook the kitchen became covered in small containers, candles, food hanging everywhere, and more colors in the small space than should be advised. The lights in the kitchen hadnt been used in the short time she had been on the ship, the hundreds of candles that were lined on the walls kept the kitchen in a warm and calming light instead. At one point the walls were even covered in thick paint with anything Lena could think of, from landscapes from the many planets she had visited to strange symbols that she promised was to protect. There were counters attached to the walls with a small island that was covered in a large amount of recipe books, several in a poor condition and all of them obviously older than herself. Every little container on the shelves and hanging from the ceiling held a different spice, ones that she would seek out or collect from each planet after learning what they did or tasted like from locals. The storage she kept locked up tight because no one was allowed in there with out her say so; not that anyone needed to break in it if they want anything, if they asked the possibility of her making a snack at any time was incredibly high.

Lena was pulled from her thoughts when the speaker just above her sounded and the Captain's voice poured out "I want everybody up and at their stations, we've got places to be. Especially you, Marx. The ship can fly itself, doesn't mean I want it to. Anyone who sees to do otherwise will be hitching a ride on the hull when we jump." She let out a small chuckle as she pressed a button labeled "pilot deck" and spoke into a small microphone, "Lena reporting! Food will be done with in the hour, and I have coffee nice and steaming for when you're ready for it!" Letting go of the button she added a few more notes before standing up to start the day officially by pushing away from the desk and stretching her arms up to pop her back. She was wearing a large amount of red and white, a pristine white peasant shirt with long white sleeves that ran past her finger. She had several different fabrics loosely wrapped around her waist and down to her ankles, all different shades of red although mainly just darker ones were present. She had her hair messily tied on top of her head with a thick scarf that fell against her neck and bounced on her shoulder blades just a bit when she walked. The kitchens fire had been started a long while ago when she first awoke, so her shoes had been taken off and now only had ribbon tied around her ankles and up to her knees, this time white. She soon had those sleeve up and tied near her shoulders though, there would be no point of making food if most of it was attached to her in some way.

Lena had only been on the ship for a couple of days and she hadnt seen any of the members, only the Captain and really the first impression probably hadnt been the best. Her little ship had all but ran into the Day when it had been on auto, she had been in the back reading when she heard loud warning noises then an incredibly angry voice over her communicator. She did not mind the yelling however, since this voice was the first she had heard ever since the Burning as she was now calling the incident that had taken her family away. Some how with a bit of begging to be taken aboard she became the cook but she had yet to actually meet anyone, the days had been spent getting to know the kitchen and transferring her things to a room. Maybe today she would get to know everyone now, or at least see someone, and she needed to make a good impression which is fairly easy when most love something to eat. She opened a large book upon the island, its well worn pages covered in a strange language that no one would be able to read anymore. "Poor lonely gypsy, no one will be able to know your secret will they" Lena asked herself, looking down at it sadly and stroked a page her heart giving a twinge as she look through to find some things for breakfast that would suit everyone. Beside her was the notes she had been making with every crew members name on it so she could write down what she would notice later on about what they do and do not eat. "Hmm now where to start?"

Cassidy hadn't a moment before a holographic projection of Zyt - the only reliable engineer currently on board the Day - formed with all due promptness in front of her. With a mildly bemused mien, she folded her arms and listened. "Engineer unit Zyt reporting. This unit is currently undergoing his weekly maintenance event and will not be able to perform any duties for the next fifteen minutes. This unit apologizes for any inconveniences." With that said, the projection winked from existence, leaving her once again alone. She saw no reason to bother replying, a miniscule smirk at the corner of her lips being the most she managed.

Not seconds after that, another of her crew saw fit to chime in, as well. "Adam Link reporting to Captain Cassidy Laiho. Requesting the Captain to visit the Med-Bay. Low Urgency Level. No need to rush." This had her face screwed into a placid frown. Perhaps she should be admiring his dedication, but at the same time she did not appreciate anything that came across even remotely as patronization. Doctors had a very bad habit of rubbing her the wrong way, regardless of their intentions.

Cassidy tapped the comm link planted on her collar. "Acknowledged, Link. I'll be up shortly." She finished just as Weston was arriving and Lena came on over the comm. Coffee sounded good, but she had other things that needed tending to first. The security officer came striding briskly onto the bridge, fully suited up and ready for work. Speaking of dedication, the thoughts trickled softly through her head. She reflexively straightened, squaring her shoulders, locking her joints, and clasping her hands behind her back. A very military stance, even if rather relaxed for an ex-serviceman. The armored figure was none too pleased with her urgency, though he appeared to find some entertainment in the dual calls she had just received from the vessel's two synthetic lifeforms. As if his own casual carriage was influencing her, Cassidy could feel her muscles slowly relaxing. "Better it takes a minute now than break down later. Probably just as the drive goes critical," she bitterly joked. "No work just yet, only a lead. Planet's close by. It's a shit hole. High income inequality, corrupt local government, massive crime rate. Average under developed planet."

That was when the blithering idiot finally deigned to arrive. He was immediately running his mouth, as well. "Hey, hey, hey the Queen herself. I am unworthy." He must have been trying to get a rise out of her, because he went so far as to reach up and muss her hair. She breathed in deeply through her nose, eyes hardening into vicious daggers that speared down into his. She managed to resist the overpowering urge to snap his wrist, her body again going taut as a wound spring. Eventually - the moment felt agonizingly longer than it was - he moved on and lowered into the pilot's chair. "Reporting in all seriousness. What's the plan?"

After casting an exasperated glance at Weston - in itself a warning that she might need to be restrained - Cassidy directed her attention to the pilot. "I've taken the liberty of logging the coordinates for you. Destination's a planet called Erdas - that's Or Yam, if a Federation patrol stops us." She utterly loathed dealing with the yvores. Generating exonyms was nothing unique to their culture, but they refused to officially acknowledge the native name of any planet or star regardless of who was there first. You always had to keep their designations on hand if you thought it might come up when conversing with them. "Travel most of the distance in warp, take the last twenty minutes in normal space. Three hours at most. Quick and easy. The hard part is going to be planetside." Shifting weight to her left foot, Cassidy looked back and forth between Marx and Weston. "Questions?"

The engineering bay, going from the sound of tools and small hover engines, was filled with a loud screeching that repeated several times in differing volumes and tones. Slowly after, the legs of Zyt began to twitch as power returned to the 'dead' limbs. The mass of white metal slowly stood up, widening his stance to compensate for the height that Zyt wanted his body to sit at. The drones then began to surround him as they ran nearly every calibration test in the arsenal, just to make sure that every part was functioning at optimal capacity.

Now, with confirmed operational status, Zyt look around. Every device that he looked at sent back nearly all the information he could possibly need, including some readings that showed that his most recent adjustments to the engines was working just as intended. Zyt had re-calibrated the pulsing cycles on the engines to send more smaller pulses, which his calculations predicted would be more efficient and better for the engines during precision maneuvering, while still leaving the engines at effectively the same efficiency at heavy burns.

Zyt then opened his comms, first pulsing the server to insure his just installed comm suite was operating. After finding it to be operational, Zyt sent a holomessage up to the pilot. The message consisted of the standard holographic form of Zyt, this time saying "Pilot Marx, this is Engineering Unit Zyt. This unit made adjustments to the engines during the last organic sleep cycle and asks that you test how the Day responds to you during precision maneuvering before we enter a possibly dangerous situation." The voice that Zyt chose to use was a fairly friendly one that he had been working on calculating out to replace his old friendly voice so that it sounded smoother and avoided a small audio glitch that created an ear-piercing screech occasionally.

Taking a quick log of the position of the only other engineer, Zyt shot her a small message. "This unit detects that logs indicate that you have not done the maintenance on the hyperdrive that this unit requested you do during this unit's maintenance event." Zyt began walking to the hyperdrive, seeing as Shiloh's sensors indicated she was in the kitchen.

The short walk to the hyperdrive was filled with a full compliment of checking the sensors on all the equipment. Everything was working just fine. Zyt swore that Shiloh had fixed, since he had no recollection of working on them. However, nothing was showing up in the logs about them being maintenanced, which Zyt found quite odd. With a quick inspection of the hyperdrive and its internal sensors indicated the same instance. In a condition that normally didn't last long after repairs, yet nothing showed up in the logs. It was easy to ignore one instance as being someone forgetting to enter one log entry, but an entire mass repair happening? Was there a new engineer that hadn't been trained in the log system? Zyt's memory indicated that they haven't landed for some time. This whole thing left Zyt in a perplexing position.

"Sleep medication," Adam said, presenting her a generic bottle of pills.

Cassidy shifted almost imperceptibly where she stood. A faint crease formed on her brow. She hesitated before taking another sip of her coffee. Her jaw clenched, teeth grinding together. Someone perceptive enough could easily tell that this.. irritated her. It was hardly that she thought she did not need them. Already she was beginning to suspect they might be necessary for her to continue competently running her ship. The backlog of hours she was missing every time she laid down were stacking higher and higher. She found her focus slipping from time to time. Memory lapses occasionally cropped up, forcing her to stop and fight to remember what had been forgotten. Though she was loathe to admit it, the subtle hint of bile in her eyes was likely caused by her damned pride. He had been the one to bring it up, not her. At this point it felt less like a conscious decision she was making herself, and more an option being foisted on her.

Sliding her foot around, Cass nodded to him. "Thanks for the coffee," she murmured in a level tone, already taking her leave of the medbay. He was doing his job, maybe just a little too well. She decided to take the lift this time, just in case Adam decided to try and follow her. Not that it would do much in dissuading an android, so she told herself it was because of the steaming cup in her hand. She let the other hand hand casually in her pocket, trying to relax the tension in her muscles. Another unfortunate side effect of sleep deprivation was her shortening fuse. Every night another centimeter or so was trimmed off, so every tiny spark was all the more dangerous.

The lift finally settled to a stop in the cargo bay. Most of the containers housed here were supplies for the crew, with all the recent shipments taken dropped off already. As such, it felt painfully sparse. She was used to the hulking chamber's state of engorgement on mountains of freight. It would get to full that trying to find your way through became a chore, and you need to use the catwalks to get from make your way around in any reasonable time. She found the Day's cerulean quartermaster going about her duties, and cleared her throat to announce her presence.

Downing another quaff first, Cass' eyes started roaming the bay. "Came here to give you a heads up, so you could clear some space in the off chance our next jobs turn out to need room... Looks like it might have been a wasted trip," she mused, looking over some of the nearby crates. Flying light was a.. strange feeling. Less freight meant fewer paychecks, but independent jobs tended to pay more on average anyway. Still, the Day's potential was being under appreciated. It was just.. wrong. "Might want to be prepared, anyway. Never know what someone needs ferried."

---

---

"This unit detects that logs indicate that you have not done the maintenance on the hyperdrive that this unit requested you do during this unit's maintenance event." Zyt interrupted the moment, causing Shiloh to groan loudly in response. She held up a finger to Lena, briefly excusing herself, and moved outside into the mess.

She tapped into the comm, opening a channel to engineering. "I don't know what you're talking about. The last time I scanned the drive's systems, everything was working just fine. What could it possibly need to have done to it, huh?" Shaking her head, she strolled back inside, again wearing a friendly smile. "Sorry about that, bitty little hiccup. Nothing important," Shiloh casually waved the intrusion aside. She was surprised when Anthony suddenly came wandering into the kitchen as well. Oh, boy, a little voice in the back of her head sighed. She was about to greet him when a light bulb clicked on. Silently accessing the ship's computer, she did a quick check on their current status. A sour expression ghosted across her face for a moment, and she shot a message to Zyt.

[08:27:15]
from:Shiloh
to:Zyt
>> Mind patching into the auxiliary controls and initiating a jump? The pilot's away from the helm, and we're still burning thrusters.

There were a number of safety protocols in place that would not allow the ship to make an FTL jump on its own. While she could definitely disable them, it would have been too much of a hassle to put in a single command. That, and she decided it would be better to let the synthetic do it. Just in case she flubbed something. That would end titanically badly for everyone on board. The image of herself seated at the cockpit passed across her mind's eye, and a shiver ran down her spine. She really did not like the thought of piloting a ship in any respect. Far too much responsibility.

Lena noticed as the man came in again his movements were a bit slower, then again he was no longer in a hurry so she was not blindsided this time by a sudden presence. She accepted the cheek kiss with a small smile that had her eyes close slightly at the corners before starting to set up the table near where her small desk was. It seemed that it use to be the captain's table but since they do not have that many in the crew anymore it is for everyone now. The set of dishes she was setting up were what her large family had used once upon a time, they were well worn with the design almost unreadable now but they were still in fair condition with little to no damage. "They had at one time been green and gold" her grandmother had said "so beautiful and shiny that it was hard to not just stare at from time to time." There wasnt as many now but thankfully enough plus some for the crew to eat comfortably from. As Shiloh cane back in she was already placing the silverware down and loosening the tiesbthat had been holding up her sleeves and hair. Her sleeves slid back down to past her fingers while her hair was quickly pulled back and time away from her face again this time into something a lot simpler.

The fire was keeping kitchen warm and the food as well as she began to put it in serving dishes in different places on the table as well as the coffee and some tea she had been letting sit until now. The air had settled into smelling sweet and a bit like Earth tree had back when there had been any at least, the coffee smell though made everything richer. She waved for Shiloh to follow Marx and sit at the table, having finished setting up quickly, before going to the small microphone she had been at only an hour or so ago. Clearing her throat she pressed a button that was labelled crew before speaking "Lena to crew, Lena to crew, breakfast has been completed. Please report to the kitchen for your meal. Thank you!" She had smilled at the microphone during her small announcement feeling pleased with herself as she turned to check if she was missing anything, her hand closing the book which held notes on her crewmates. "This will be a nice meal."

Right after Shiloh opened the channel, what Zyt had begun to suspect was confirmed. She had forgot to update the logs when she checked the hyperdrive. It was far from a big deal, Zyt just updated the logs with the appropriate repairs. Oh well.

Then came the message that surprised him. The pilot was not in the cockpit, even after jump coordinates had been loaded into the system. Not just that, but he left them burning thrusters. Zyt couldn't tell if the pilot just couldn't remember what his job was, or wanted the captain to kill him. Either way, she needed to know and the Day needed to enter hyperspace.

Quickly firing off a response message, Zyt sent:
[08:28:32]
From: Zyt
To: Shiloh
>> This unit inquires the pilot's current position. Also, would you mind setting this terminal to watch the engineering bay sensors?

Once he got a response, he would contact the captain and tell her just where her pilot is, and that he was going to handle flying the Day based off of the logged coordinates manual control was taken.

Zyt moved back into the main room of the bay, giving one last sweep of all the sensor within each of the machines. During the time that he was going to be controlling the day, Zyt knew that very little of his computing power could be designated to identifying problems.

With another minutes worth of walking, Zyt had reached the terminal that he used when he was going to need more data transfer than the ship's wireless systems allowed him. Plugging his high bandwidth connection cable into the ship, he felt the data from his inputs fade away, slowly gaining the feeling of the ship itself, as limited as that was. Within only a few moments of his processors adding on to the ships already impressive computers, Zyt had finished all the necessary jump calculations and fired up the hyperdrive.

"Yeah, sure, it's your funeral pal." Wes replied as Marx left the bridge. Once he left Wes retracted his helmet, and leaned back in his chair. Despite all of the migraines Marx gives him, Wes doesn't dislike him or anything. He just wishes he'd act more professional when on the job. Probably in his downtime(like he'd have that) Wes might like him a bit more. Maybe.

Wes got out of his chair, and paced from his station, and to the helm, making sure everything was ok. While he could take the pilot's seat himself, he's not very confident in his flying abilities. It's not that he's god awful or anything, he's just more like a soccer mom or something, keeping it slow and steady. Why does it feel like half the time I'm the only one working?" Wes muttered to himself.

But then the helm lite up as the ship's hyperdrive powered up. "What the hell?" He asked himself. Wes went over to the helm, and logged into the console to see where helm control was directed to. "Engineering? Zyt." Wes already knew who was responsible. Wes sighed, there wasn't much he could do.

Wes sighed again when it was announced that breakfast was ready. Wes needs very little food to survive, in fact he needs more actual energy for his implants then he does food. But still it'd be rude if he didn't do something. Wes retracted his helmet, and went to the lift.

He entered the mess hall, and surveyed the area, acting as if he was expecting trouble. Which he usually does. He grabbed himself a cup of coffee, and sat in the corner of the room. The armor plating over his mouth on his helmet opened up so he could drink his coffee. He made sure his back was to the wall, and that he had a full view of the room. He's paranoid like that.

Shiloh skirted over and grabbed herself a cup of steaming black coffee, leaning her body at a wide angle with her shoulders propped against the wall. She closed her eyes, breathing deep the familiar and comforting scent. One of the very last vestiges of Earth, of her people. It had taken centuries of agricultural infrastructure and colonial wealth growth before coffee beans became a regular commodity amongst humanity again. For the longest time they had been a luxury item, available in plenty near the core of the Coalition and only to the wealthy in the fringes. Unless some aliens had adopted the crop - she had no idea if any liked it as much as humans did, but figured it had to have been exported at some point - it would likely be closer to extinction than her own species at this point. Out of everything they had to lose even after their near ruination, why- she internally lamented- did it have to be coffee? It gave her cause for a sour mask she did not even realization had been put on until she felt the muscles in her face twisting.

Her HUD stayed alive even with her eyes closed. It had taken a bit of getting used to when the implants were first installed. The lack of darkness behind her eyelids, replaced forever with the same colorful neural interface visuals she saw when they were open. She adapted quickly enough, rigorously training her instincts to accept them as a permanent fixture of her life. When Zyt's response appeared, Shiloh tilted her head to one side, reading it with her eyes shut. They flashed open again as she took a cautionary sip of her coffee, already writing up a confirmation.

[08:29:04]
from:Shiloh
to:Zyt
>>In the kitchen with yours truly, luv. You got it. ;)

She liked sending smiley faces to the robot. No idea why, the thought just amused her. She had decided to roll with it rather than do any deep questioning into the matter. As soon as the message was sent, she accessed the engineering deck's systems and started up a secondary runtime in the aforementioned terminal, giving it access to the sensor array. A quick and easy task done in a few seconds, and then she was back to her coffee. Short of another sip, she was pulled away again when Wes came into the kitchen. As usual, he gravitated over toward his own little bubble off in the corner.

"Ooh, he's dark and broody," Shiloh murmured, loud enough for him to hear. Though, she was confident whatever chrome he was sporting easily made her slightest whisper into a shout by her standards. "Like cyber-Batman." She widened her eyes comically, a low snicker sounding from the back of her throat. Her eyes rushed away the moment Cassidy came strolling in, and she immediately straightened, pushing her back up against the wall. "Capt'n on deck!" She enthusiastically declared. Much to her chagrin, the captain completely disregarded her. Not even so much as a glance her way. "Be that way, then," she grumbled.

Cassidy shot Anthony a questioning glare, already loading a string of marvelous expletives onto the back of her tongue. A deep breath disarmed her intentions, and all that came out was a very terse, "Marx." The bitter acknowledgement aside, she carried on toward the cook. She scrutinized the room with a blank mien, taking in all of the girl's personalization. She had not gotten a chance to see it since taking Lena onto the crew, and was not sure what to think of how quickly the room had been so utterly transformed. It was.. cozy, she gave it that much. "Looks like you're settling in without any issues," she remarked, fixing her eyes on the cook. "I hope you're not having any trouble with the crew." She drifted back, gaze swinging shortly to the pilot.

"Not even remotely subtle, capt'n," Shiloh giddily informed. Her smirk was unabated by Cassidy's look of warning.

Cassidy returned her attention to Lena. "If you need any supplies, get a shopping list. We'll be setting down soon." Another look at the pilot, this one reading along the lines of, No thanks to you. "Not sure if you can find much more than nutrient supplements on Erdas, but if you're willing to brave the smog then go right ahead."

Benuine Federation
Sa Jeen Cluster
Signos [Nu Vo] System
Erdas [Or Yam]
11:42:16





The shimmering emptiness of warp space flashed and shattered into a sea of darkness, the glimmering lights fading into tiny specks against the backdrop of space. The Make My Day would have appeared to materialize abruptly from nothingness as it reentered normal space, thrusters flaring blue-white as they resumed their control over the vessel's flight. On the bridge, Cassidy stared through the forward window - not made of glass, but an engineered transparent titanium alloy. Ahead, dominating the view, was Erdas itself. Vast muddy clouds choked the planet's skies, obscuring the dusty landmasses and oily oceans underneath a veil of toxins and contaminants. There were no starports orbiting, no civilian habitats or military outposts strung up in the gravity well. Aside from the handful of frighteningly basic duct-tape-and-scrap-metal constructs they passed off as gunships, they lacked even a true fleet for protection. Suspended above the planet, however, was a gift from the Federation: a guardian belt. An enormous artificial ring, like a crown of emerald steel. These tremendous installations were the yvores' primary form of planetary defense. A complement of twelve had been constructed around their own homeworld. Formidable as they were, not even a dozen had been able to save Or Rum during the Adjutant's Passing.

Minutes into their approach a deep, grumbling voice came over the comm. "Vessel," they enunciated in an awkward growl, "Identify and state your intent." A few of the gunships broke off and veered their way, each brandishing a single large axially-mounted automatic gun.

Cassidy waved to Anthony and took the comm. "This is the Co-" She snapped her mouth shut, exasperatedly rolling her eyes. She was having difficulty shaking that habit of introduction. "This is the transport ship Make My Day. We're here on business. Requesting permission to dock."

A moment of silence, and then, "Requesting vessel registration documents. Please send them immediately."

Cassidy's hand had already been waiting at the console, and she reflexively dispatched the information.

Another moment went by as they ran a check, followed up with, "Approved. Sending instructions, now. Do not disregard." After which the comm finally went quiet.

Surprisingly, there had been no remark about them being a human vessel. Most lone worlds these days made it very clear there was to be no handouts to the dying. Cassidy brushed it off. It was something of a relief. She hated the notion of asking for charity, or even being suspected of wanting it. Turning to a nearby auxiliary station, she entered the planet's network and posted a listing for wanted crew, namely security and engineering personnel. Soon as that was finished, she hit the comm and barked, "If you plan on going for a walk, gear up now. This is your first warning. Grab goggles and breathers, if you're.. human. The conditions should be considered hazardous." She was not sure if Wes would require such equipment, thus the brief pause.

Entering Erdas' atmosphere was like being plunged into a dark sea. It was so phenomenally choked with fumes and dust that visibility plummeted to only twenty metres. They had to rely on directions from the surface to safely navigate. She kept waiting for the proximity sensors to start shrieking, but it looked like traffic control was good at their job. They never came too close to any departing ships. When they finally broke atmosphere, and punched through the cloud layer, they were greeted with a spectacular view of the grungy urban environments that spread across the planet's continents like a cancerous growth. The lights were dimmed to a nearly invisible glow from smog, the buildings rusted and decaying. Massive environment scrubbers struggled in an uphill battle to clean the air so it was technically safe to breathe.

Two within sight of their port were currently being repaired.

A gunship patrol zoomed by, belching black smoke from their engines, as the Day came in to land. The spaceport was an eclectic sprawl of platforms and towers surrounded on all sides by a milling sea of denizens and a huge market complex. A business sector, thriving like bacteria in a gaping wound. In stark contrast to the planet itself, the starships berthed on the platforms were all in fairly good condition. For the most part. The occasional junker could be seen hiding amidst the healthy hulls and well tended ships of other species. With as many starships that came through Erdas, it was hardly that the native race - the embl - lacked the knowledge to build spacefaring vessels. What they did not have was the capacity to make very good ones.

As they landed to the blaring of klaxons and flashing yellow warning lights, Cassidy watched through the window as a small host of dock workers assembled at a safe distance to meet with them once they had set down. She hit the comm one last time, "All ashore who's going ashore. Meet me down in cargo. This is your second warning. Shiloh, you're ordered to accompany."

She could almost hear a furious cry of, "Are you kidding me?!"

Cassidy had gathered a filtration mask with an integrated comm link and HUD from her quarters before they broke warp. It was currently hung from her neck, waiting until it was needed. She had also grabbed a heavy-duty work jacket, made from a dense weave of Kevlar fibres and carbon nanotubes. Very resistant against physical abrasions, which suited it perfectly for Erdas' environment. Her Richter was strapped to her hip, the grip just within reach of her fingers. Erdas' gun laws were very lax, both in response to and as the result of a heavy crime rate. Fully kitted for the outing, Cassidy headed to the cargo bay. The planet's clock was roughly seven hours longer than Earth's, and it was still morning. They had a short while before the day really started heating up. With luck, they would be off world again before conditions worsened.

Zyt moved around his bay with little trouble, preparing a shopping list for Shiloh. Best to make sure that the stores of parts and metals were stocked up before leaving again. While the list, in and of itself, was not long or grand, Zyt preferred to keep a minimum of parts and metals on the ship at all times.

With the final checks and inventories check and cataloged, Zyt shot the list over to Shiloh. Now, Zyt could work on something that he has been waiting on since they last took off: the engines. While the primary thrusters were cycling fine, Zyt had manually tuned down the secondary engines because they were giving off strange readings. Now, he could get to work on figuring out just what was wrong.

Zyt stopped after a minute of deciding what to do next. He had yet to get a reply from Shiloh. Zyt stopped for a moment, calculating the chances that she had ignored his message altogether, and it was high enough that Zyt decided he should go himself. Zyt reluctantly walked over to the elevator and walked the path to the cargo bay, hiding his displeasure with the fact that he would not be finishing his work on the engines until later.

Only moments after the dock workers leaving, Zyt's metal hide came out into the cargo bay and down the ramp at the pace of a normal jog. "Hello." Zyt vocalized, his black panels presenting a slightly bored and annoyed appearance, while his voice remained steady and dry.