Obani Mining Station 22

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

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

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

Ninari took one step into the airlock and cringed, already feeling the equalization in atmospheric pressure and lack of humidity outside. She gave Indiela a light smile before depressing button on her exosuit to extract her helmet from its collar. When she stepped outside, her narrow visor polarized against the harsh daylight, and she gave a sigh of relief that the suit's air filter amplified. Few people gave the Archernaran a second glance as she exited the vessel, and those who did noticed more the appearance of a armed, suited figure than the fact she only had four long digits on each hand, or the odd width of her combat boots being as her feet were webbed. She had her submachine gun safely holstered to her hip, but made no effort to rouse or anyone by removing it. As usual, she would leave potential problems to the others in the event diplomacy failed. Rarely did she open fire unless she found herself cornered or in need of providing support.

Her path set her away from the others, somewhat, as she slipped into a more business-like role. The Archernaran's main job was to observe both inhabited and uninhabited worlds, log and report her findings to the Council. This was partly for the citizens of Fenrir to learn what planets outside Archernar were most suited for varying, preexisting lifeforms, and discover which worlds harbored the most potential to support their future colonies. The Fenriri, dubbed "Archernarans" by the other races for their sole hold on that particular star in the galaxy, were actually a relatively peaceful people. With a shorter lifespan in comparison to most races, they only went through periods of primitive cultural instability resulting in locally short, but devastating wars after which they built back up and eventually realized they weren't going anywhere as a race by fighting. Thus, Ninari had never been really been exposed to people like those she now walked among, and she was starting to wonder why they constantly looked at her like she wanted to bite their heads off. After all, they didn't seem at all appetizing...

Something caught her eye, however, and letting her curiosity get the better of her, she looked over at her comrades, whose attentions seemed to be diverted to finding edible rations, and diverted from the group to look at a small window display of strange-looking insects with pincers on their forearms and long, thin antennae that reminded her of little crustaceans she had seen back home.

"Mmm," she wondered aloud, and found herself gravitating to the shop, where she wandered inside, seeking out the owner. She regarded Ninari rather callously at first, but the amphibian retracted her helmet and asked how much for the little bugs in the woman's own tongue. The owner's look became one of shock, then surprise followed by an eagerness to give her a price and show her a fine specimen.

The price seemed reasonable enough, so Ninari paid. It wasn't until several minutes later that the Archernaran was seen being run out of the store with a large broom, the woman behind her, shouting something about what wasn't food and to never come back again.

Whatever the case, the words must not have translated, for the amphibian gave a very confused backward glance as she put her helmet back on outside. When she rejoined the others, she looked to both of them and awkwardly asked, "What's a pet?"

Indie nodded and jogged after Artyom. She waved hello, but stayed silent as she studied him. He looked human enough, and his emotions felt human. They weren't as strong, and she noticed he was a tad scared... No. He was worrisome. Of her? She felt it was a direct emotion, but she couldn't quite be sure. Soon enough he broke the silence. "We should look around for provisions first. I shall defer to your opinion on these matters; I am... not the most skilled in the culinary arts."

The girl smiled at this as her eyes faded to a pale blue to reflect his aura. "Well, I like things to be just right, so the food I make usually tastes pretty good," she said hopefully reassuring him. She was good with picking out what flavors went with what, and since she followed recipes to a T, most things ended up tasting pretty good. Now, she is no chef, but she is also no stranger to the kitchen. Just as they were entering a shop, she noticed a flash of purple along with some confusion. "Hi, Ninari," she said, turning to the girl.

The lavender color that had surrounded her previously was now a darker purple. It was a beautiful color. "What's a pet?" she asked. Once her translator had done it's work, Indie bit her lip. "Well, it's sorta like..." pushing away Ninari's confusion, Indie gathered her own thoughts.

"You know some things that are not intelligent as us?" Indie asked, trying not to insult anyone. "Like a beast of some sort? It's when you tame that wild thing and make it your pet. You feed it, provide it shelter.. And it usually becomes your companion and friend," Indiela explained. "I understand this may be confusing," she continued, "Because some pets are another's food. It all depends on the person." Indie turned away from the girl, hoping she had satisfied her question and began looking at the shelves. She picked up some simple spices and then moved onto to collect some a few other odd things. When she finally was finished, she haggled a price with the owner of the shop and when they agreed, she paid from her own pocket. She explained what she got, some meat and foods from the ground. Also a lot of foods that store well like dried goods. The girl also picked out some sweet foods and alcohol.

"What next?" she asked, sliding on her glove again. She didn't feel like she would need to use her power at this point.

As Artyom listened in on Indiela's explanation to Ninari regarding what pets were, the bio-android decided to make an informative contribution, in the form of sending some information regarding the use of pets throughout human history via a lengthy text message to her comm device. He practically did all this "in his head" thanks to having a positronic brain. Once they were done with that, Artyom and Indie moved on, the latter asking the former what they should go for next.

"Hmm... I believe we have all we need. You may go back to the ship, but I need to find a few more advanced components for my drones so that they may handle a wider array of complex functions." With that said, Artyom continued alone. In addition to getting the parts, there was still the chance of overhearing a conversation mentioning the fall of the galaxy's law enforcement. But, leaving her so suddenly and without much in the way of parting words would likely have been interpreted as impolite. "Maybe we could talk again later, if you want?" he asked Indie before actually leaving her presence.

Since they were on a mining station, it was pretty easy to find a satisfactory store that sold drone parts. While browsing one of the shelves, his hearing detected a whispered conversation just a few feet away from him.

"...but what I wanna know is, what's gonna happen now that they're gone?"

"Dunno, but whoever managed to take out StellarShield means business, and I don't think they'll keep things all neat and tidy like they were. There's trouble on the horizon, mate. We should take whatever we can and head for the outer rim of the galaxy. We'd be safer there than nearer the core."

"Hey, how do I know that this isn't some sorta hoax?"

"Would I lie to my oldest friend? Look, we've got about a week until our ship leaves. Better get packing, yeah?"

So it seemed that although there were those who somehow managed to find out about StellarShield's demise, this information had not been publicly revealed. Yet.

Probably for the better, since it would likely cause panic among the masses. Artyom quickly finished his personal errand, purchasing the parts and returning to the ship post-haste.