Aylien Galaxy

Wyef

"Very good. You're clean." Wy said as he helped the Nelian crew member from one of the examination beds. In truth, he was more than grateful for this to be over. Wy had spent the last fifty or so hours picking the crew clean; from worms to fungus, disorders and depression, he had made sure each and every one of the crew were primed for their trip.

Under normal circumstances, none of them would have had the money to visit the Alboa Hospital. Not long after the search for the Pool of Gold was declared, the hospital director himself had gone straight to Eiro from a certain meeting in Aurora. Wy had been on Wilhellen at the time , and so received his orders indirectly from one of the human officers that conducted the Alboa Hospital in the director's stead. Despite still never having seen the director's face, Wy accepted the position and was shipped off to Goroi within the hour. Now his duty was to keep the crew alive and fit to work.

His accommodations on the ship were much like those at the hospital. Wy suspected the director had had a word in for him. His quarters were attached to a private medical lab furnished with specialty Alboa equipment. It adjoined a full-fledged medical bay where a small team of Nelians would be dealing with most of the straightforward cases and take over procedures whenever Wy went out with the expedition group.

A chirp from his clipboard notified him of the completion of the download for his current patient's medical record. Wy typed in a few notes to add to the record and then closed the file. Scrolling through his database, there was still one member unchecked. Now two; his board chirped again and a map of the ship expanded, filling with moving green dots. A single purple dot pulsated near the ship's entrance. The Lieutenant had finally accepted another member onto the ship. And if the Lieutenant was accepting more people, then Wy's work for the day was far from over.

Wy slid the board into a niche on his suit's leg and turned to exit the medical lab to find the Nelian patient still with him. "Your check up is done. I've found you in perfect health and with balanced mind. You can get back to work now."

"Ah yes, uhm... sir, Doctor Luimel." The Nelian fidgeted nervously when greeting him, even though he was about two sizes bigger and about a head taller. He suddenly stuck out a hand and grinned sheepishly. "I'm actually assigned to be your assistant. I've been through all the emergency aid training and, uh, I'll totally help you out!"

Wy regarded the hand for a moment. Pressing into a nook in his suit's arm, his gloves retracted and Wy placed a spindly hand into his companion's grip. "Your eagerness is appreciated, but I don't have need for an assistant. The machines here all perform perfectly fine. I've ordered them specially so that I would be able to take care of the crew myself. You could try joining the other medical staff..." The Nelian's face fell, looking like he had just been abandoned. Wy gave in. "But," he began again slowly. "I suppose you can help me with keeping the place clean."

This was, of course, unnecessary as the medical bay had all the machinery needed to keep the place sanitary. But his new assistant recovered at these words and cheerfully agreed to it.

"Good. Now, it seems I have a new member to look over. Excuse me."

"Oh, I'll come with!"

They briskly traveled to where a hulking figure awaited them. The light from outside blazed a corona around the newcomer's muscled person. Stepping to the side of the shafts of light, Wy was able to see more clearly the angry green skin and rough expression of a Rezkin. They were common enough, though Wy had never gotten his hands on one. They never seemed to have enough money to visit the Alboa Hospital, or they died too soon. Yet Wy seemed to get enough of their victims. Here would be a good opportunity to study.

"Welcome aboard the Orion." Wy greeted him genially. "I am Doctor Wyef Luimel, I'll be heading medical operations on this trip. If you could do me a favour, please step into the chamber just over there. My assistant here will guide you."

The poor guy was even more intimidated by the Rezkin. Wy put a hand on his shoulder and he calmed down. It also helped that Wy had placed a mild sedative on the Nelian's skin. "It's just a preliminary scan for foreign contaminants and you can be on your way in no time. Just remember to visit me in the medical bay before the end of today so that I can do a full examination."

"If you don't mind, I must step outside now. Pleasure meeting." Wy's assistant beckoned the Rezkin away and Wy stepped into the morning light. As a tree, it felt good to be under a sun again. Doubly so with two.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Vorn." He said quietly, so as not to disturb his interview with a rather interesting individual. But time for inspection later. He called to the Kaloq beside the Lieutenant. "Alenko Isis? I believe we haven't met."

This was the last of the missing data, apart from any new additions to be accepted. "Doctor Wyef Luimel, from the Alboa Hospital. Remember to come see me once this is over." Wy nodded at the long line of people. "About how many more are we looking at here?"

Lieutenant Vorn looked at the Arkanean from head, well brain, and down. He looked through what information the Goroi Government and Justice System had on Nyroth. Alenko's eyes caught sight of his experience with the Council's Cybernetics Division. Someone of this experience on a treasure hunt? Interesting. I guess we're are motivated by something, Alenko thought to himself as the Lieutenant continued to skim through files. Alenko noticed Vorn was being oddly thorough considering Nyroth's now known history with the Council. To Alenko, it almost seemed as if he was finding a reason not to bring the outsider on board, something the Kaloq knew the Nelia's were going to try.

"Everything in order, Vorn? I doubt the man wants to stand here all day." Alenko said with a slightly annoyed tone to his voice.

Vorn lowered the data-tablet and looked over at Alenko, then back to Nyroth. "Nyroth Kova. By boarding the Orion you thereby agree to follow Goroi Laws and Regulations regardless of where said voyage takes you so long as you remain a member of The Orion's crew. The Republic is not responsible for loss of possession or life while on this journey. If you agree to these terms please proceed through the docking bay. Welcome aboard."

The sound of Alenko slow clapping could be heard just to the right of Vorn. "Finally. Here I thought no one would be up to par with your lofty standards," said Alenko, much to the dismay of Vorn who had a noticeably angered expression.

The interview was nearly over as the ships medic, Wy, appeared from the docking bay. Alenko heard the Nelian had started employing Etweir for their medical expertise, but Alenko had never actually met one before. At least, not a modified one. Alenko looked the Etweir from top to bottom, then turned his attention back to the interview. "No, we haven't." Before Alenko could say another word the sound of a gentle hum began to emit from the tablet Vorn was holding. He pressed the screen, thereby bringing up a video feed of the Captain aboard the Orion, sitting in his Commander's chair on the bridge.

"Yes, what do you need, Sir?" said Vorn, trying to sound as professional and emotionless as possible.

"Lieutenant Vorn, we will be taking off within the hour. It seems a Warship will be docking soon and we have orders to remove ourselves so as to not be in its way." Captain Jauron's voice was deep and dry, the wounds of many battles fought could be heard with each word he spoke.

"Understood, Captain." The video feed ended and the tablet screen returned to normal. "Alright Kaloq, it looks like this parade of yours is over." Vorn's words were sharp, caausing even Alenko to get irritated. "A Nelian warship docking in the same bay on the same day we are scheduled to leave, huh? Bad luck, I guess." Alenko turned toward the docking bay, looking back at Nyroth before taking a step. "Look's like you made it just in time." With that, Alenko entered the docking bay and started making his way toward the ship.

Vorn looked at what remained of the line. "Sorry, but interviews are officially over, I thank you for your time." The group started to become vocal, but Vorn shut the docking bay door behind him, making sure Wy, Nuroth, and any loose crew members were in before locking it down. "I suggest we head onto the ship. Once we're on, Captain Jauron will inform everyone of our destination." The Lieutenant's attitude seemed to be more friendly than before, most likely because Alenko had went on ahead and was no longer around to antagonize him.

The Orion was a Military-grade transport ship that was too large for a freighter, but too small for a warship. It came from a series of ships designed during the Kaloq Wars to fly close to the surface of planets without drawing too much attention with the intent to deploy troops and vehicles while also providing aerial support. When entering the ship, a decontamination process purged all possibly dangerous bacteria and organisms on those arriving. Once the airlock was sealed and the process over, the ships opposite airlock opened to the bridge of the Orion. The designed was so the Captain would be able to immediately departure from the ship. Like most things developed by the Goroi, their hubris didn;t take into account to possibility of invaders having a clear line of sight to the Captain should they board.

Alenko entered through the airlock and emerged on the other side, locking eyes with the Captain almost immediately. It might have seemed rude for him to just up and leave those who were at the interview process without a word or second thought, but he wanted to see the Captain as soon as possible without outside interference or knowledge.

"I'm supposed to believe you just found out a warship needed to dock?" asked Alenko, the skepticism in his voice not likely to go over anyone's head.

The Captain simply chuckled and stood up, looking at the Kaloq. "Believe what you want to. I have my orders and you will followe the orders I give you while on my ship, do I make myself clear?"

Alenko looked away and walked to the front of the bridge, staring out at the open sky from the bridges large window view. "Crystal, Captain."

Zous grimaced sourly as the Nelian checked him over.

"Forin contamits eh? Wots dat?" He grumbled.

The Nelian didn't reply, he simply quickened his pace with the scanner in his hand. Zous didn't press the matter any further, he could smell the alien's fear already. He put up with the quick scan, and then began to walk away down the hall towards the vessel's central hub, in hopes of finding a directory of some sort.

"Oh um... Please remember to... erm, deposit your weaponry at some point." The Nelian called.

Zous grunted in return, and was about to head off when he noticed the conversation going on between the two aliens just on the entry ramp. One was the plant-thing that had met him on his way to the ramp, the other he hadn't seen before.

"Maybe if you're familiar with the ship you could show me around, if you can spare the time?"

The alien's voice sounded strange and distorted, and the being seemed to be made entirely of metal. Its brain floated in a see-through tank on its shoulders.

"Oi, ya don't tink ya could let me tag along? If one more being tells me tah put away mah gear in da armory, I just moight crump sumtin!"

Wyef

The time had come. After the rush of the past couple of days, the Orion was ready to depart. Wy followed Alenko and Lieutenant Vorn back towards the ship as the line of hopefuls scattered and melted back into the grungy background of the docks. The last of the sunlight, like a long arm reaching into the docking bay, was snapped and the heavy doors closed.

As Wy stepped onto the ramp leading into the Orion, Nyroth Kova, the last interviewee, approached.

"Yes, Wyef Luimel at your service. I am not currently experiencing any difficulties, but I would be honoured if you were to look over some of my attachments later; I am quite fond of my precision surgical tools, and it would be useful to have them on hand at all times."

It was then that, shifting into new light, Wy realised that what was Nyroth's head was not a head at all. A clear dome in which floated a living brain sat upon a sharp metal mantle. The Arkaneans were one of the favourite subjects to debate amongst the Etweirs. They shared all their knowledge, but not much information was to be found about the Arkaneans. As much as Nyroth was attracted to the technology that housed Wyef, he was just as intrigued by floating piece of tissue.

Upon request to be guided around the Orion, Wy agreed graciously. It was also a chance to fill out Nyroth's medical file once the tour was over.

"To the best of my knowledge I shall. Let my recent long hours not be for naught."

A booming voice then caught the tail of Wy's last words. The Rezkin from earlier, now looking slightly disgruntled from a scan that he had no understanding of, was striding over. The floor they stood on bounced slightly at each step, though the suspension housed in Wy's leg armor adjusted for none of the vibration to reach the rest of his body. Wy wondered briefly if he should be thanking Nyroth's kind for that.

Within the gravelly grinding, Wy took a short moment to discern a speech pattern. "You would like to see around the ship as well?" Wy looked the Rezkin over with a critical eye before nodding curtly. He would need to be examined soon as well. "Of course. Though we should make it a priority to visit the armory soon; without your gear on, I doubt you will have as many reminders to deposit it."

Nudging a groove in his suit's leg, Wy's clipboard slid upwards out of its casing. The slot closed automatically once it was removed.
He retracted his gloves to let his fingers skate freely across the surface. A glowing blue representation of the ship expanded to fill the screen. Flicking through some options, Wy turned off display on the crew's life signs to make the view less cluttered.

"Here we are," Wy pointed to a spot on the ship where a small white triangle was resting. He then dragged across to the other end of the ship and a trailing red line connected the two points by conforming within the virtual passageways. "and the armory is right here. Not far, of course. What say we start?"

Just as Wy was leading the new members into a brightly lit corridor, brushing his hand against the wall brought one of the panels to life. A slowly rotating miniature Orion appeared on screen, and then it zoomed into an isometric view of the deck's floor plan. "I've already downloaded a schematic of the Orion onto my board here, for monitoring the crew's health of course. I'm not sure about the equipment we'll be supplied with, as I'm sure our communications will be a necessity. But in case you get lost, these terminals are everywhere on the ship."

Continuing along the corridor and through two others, Wy casually pointed out paths towards places to rest, eat, exercise, as well as essential areas for running the ship. At the end of the last corridor, great double doors slid open to admit the three into the armory. "Here we are," said Wy, waving over a Nelian attendant.

"What can I do for you sirs?" The attendant looked them over, easily predicting which one held the source of his next hour's work of documenting and maintenance.

Alenko walked to the center of the bridge, a large hologram of Goroi sitting in the direct center. What he was looking at was the navigation map, one that defaults to the planet, cluster, or more regional location that the ship is currently positioned in. A bright yellow dot showed where the ship was on the planet, with red dots symbolizing any major cities or landmarks on the planet. The systems only flaw was that it was based on information collected and reported by the Nelian Military and various companies contracted out for the task. As such, it was not a complete overview of the galaxy, though few maps offer that knowledge to begin with.

A loud ring could be heard throughout the ship, followed by a computer-generated voice echoing to every corner of the vessel, "Take off will commence in Ten..." Alenko turned to the Captain as the countdown continued, looking at Captain Jauron with a confused expression. "Are we already taking off?" asked Alenko.

The Captain walked over tot eh navigation map. "I told you we had to leave as soon as possible." The Captain waved his hand over the map, zooming out of Goroi and showing the whole cluster. "Two... One. Thrusters engaged." Without a delay the engine core launched the ship out of the dock and into the atmosphere above Goroi within half a minute. Those on board wouldn't even know the ship had moved were it not for the countdown and sound of the engine core starting up. Only a few seconds later, the ship exited Goroi's atmosphere and was now in space, the sight of Goroi easily visible from the Bridge window.

The Captain walked back over to his seat, sitting down and taking in the view. "What are we waiting on?" asked Alenko as he brought the navigation map to focus on their destination. "It is Nelian custom for the Captain to take in a view of the planet before leaving,: said the Captain in a monotone voice. Alenko rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Well, the maps set if your ready to go. If your pilot just follows these coordinates we should be there in a few hours... assuming the ship maintains its speed." The Captain nodded and looked down to his left arm rest, a panel of buttons of varying colors and sizes was built into it. He pressed a bright green one on the far right corner of the panel, the sound of an intercom clicked on all throughout the ship. "Attention crew. For those of you not at yesterday's briefing I will repeat our mission parameters. With the assistance of Alenko Isis and his 'hired' group we will find and acquire pieces of this... key. I will ask that you show Alenko Isis and his 'group' the treatment accustomed to Nelians. Our first destination in Malahan IV, a small mining planet on the outskirts of the Outer Rim. We will be arriving in four hours so I suggest everyone do their duties properly and promptly. Thank you." Alenko sat down in an empty seat, closing his eyes and tilting his head back.

Malahan IV was a well-known supplier of low-grade fuel to outer rim world's west of the Galactic Core. The planet had one central mining facility, owned and operated by Titan, a galaxy-wide umbrella corportaion that's power and influence was felt by most planets. Titan's owner and chief operator was Salas Gravi, a Naji and member of the Renderon Oligarchy. Alenko's hope was that they could arrive and leave the planet without incident, as angering such a powerful entity would make it impossible even for the Nelian's to protect him, mostly because they would just as likely sell him out to save their own skins on the political front.

Zous grimaced as he approached the ship's armory attendant.

"Spouz you da one oim tah leave mah shoota with eh?" He grumbled, sliding the weight of the massive weapon off his shoulders.

He removed the rough leather strap that had been holding it in place on his back, and then gingerly held it out to the attendant. The attendant didn't seem quite sure how to approach taking the rough-shod ballistics weapon from the massive Rezkin. After a moments hesitation, he reached forward and grasped it. Zous let go of the weapon, and the attendant promptly began to strain to manage the slug-thrower on his own. He hefted it over to a maintenance table and set it down beside various pieces of laser weaponry.

"Phew, how do you handle that beast?" He asked.

Zous chuckled.

"Squeeze da trigga, and hold on."

The attendant shook his head and smiled.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Zous grimaced again, he handed over the spare magazines for his slug-thrower, and finally his twin axes.

"Dat's it. Really. I ain't got nufin fancy." Zous said anxiously. He was getting restless in this new, rather cramped feeling, environment. It was different than in the military, when he was around other Rezkin soldiers. Here, he was on his own. The feeling was both liberating, and foreboding.