The Marathon Xuli'pan

[TheAbsurdist]

 

Equivalent to October, 2015, in Terran cycles.

Outpost P-32, Ledas System, on Ledas 4.

 

 

 

This place was a frigid waste.  Not that they would go out among the ammonia shoals among the dark skies, and ever present snows.  It was toxic to most, and even if it wasn't it was way, way too cold to be there.  Still this place had minerals that were useful, and it was a good place to hole up a research station.

 

The outpost was nice, or nicer than the places they frequented, and there was enough facilities for them to take care of things, little repairs and such that built up.  Plus a couple nice watering holes, including some places that Roulette could duck off to, to place some games, and swindle some people.

Bliss hated the cold.  Her homeworld was far more warm, though while she wasn't mammalian, she was assuredly endothermic.  So that accounted for something.  Still, she was the strongest of the Runners, and so she relented to leaving her room and helping Ruby get supplies.  Plus, sometimes they got discounts if she was glaring.  When in her enviro suit she looked a bit more intimidating.  Which they were benefiting from, with the Xuli'pan was off to the side, waiting while Ruby did... something...  She didn't know.

 

They were in one of the trader stations here in the outpost.  With their crates of the supplies that would be here, the rest would be delivered after they got back to the station.  Bliss was propped against the wall, staring through one of the porthole style windows that aimed towards the main concourse of the outpost.

Edited January 31, 2016 by TheAbsurdist

[Darksider42]

If one were to ask Ruby what she was doing, they would be met with a sigh and perhaps a glare they could feel behind the scratched, gold helmet that encased the bounty hunters head. What she was actually doing was accounting for ship supplies. Air recycling, engine fuel, food stockpiles for everyone and other minutia that would cross into tedium for some but was necessary for any spacer to account for. Holographic displays showed her what was needed as they crossed the Galaxy and what they could get from this outpost and what she could afford. Thankfully physical transportation of anything was handled by herself and Bliss. Roulette gave her the impression of someone who treated heavy lifting as someone else's problem.

She glanced up from the display on her arm. "You OK?" Ruby asked. While her knowledge of Xuli'pa Physiology was limited, amphibians did not deal with cold conditions very well. A lesson learned from an earlier years on the job. There was the option of looking into mechanical help in loading The Voidrunner if there was going to be complications after all.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Darksider42

[TheAbsurdist]

 

Her people were identifiable, though hardly well known.  They kept to their conclaves off world.  They traded for what they needed, but outside of their space they were insular, and apt to swing at people if overly vexed.  Bliss looked different, a bit more comparable to Terrans and Lor and the like, than the rest.  They weren't adversely harmed by the cold, though she shared the sentiment of, "I don't like the smell."  She declared, referring to the outpost, or the mercantile station, or the cold itself.

 

Of course Bliss would only grouse about things when it wasn't important.  Or when she was hungry.  Or hadn't had a fight.  Outside of that though...

[Darksider42]

You say that about everywhere we go Bliss." Ruby noted as more numbers and items were shifted around on the holographic display. Negotiating, wheeling and dealing, moving things around. The sheer monotony of this would have put her to sleep if she had no company. Though that said she did know little about Bliss beyond what little Stahnze was willing to reveal about her and that was not a lot. She hit a few more symbols on the screen before it vanished from the terminal screen. Hopefully that covers the basics for the ship.  

 

Ruby turned to Bliss, giving her knuckles a quick crack.  "You sure there is nothing on your mind? You are awfully quite today. Er.., Well more so than usual."

[TheAbsurdist]

 

Bliss' attention was aimed at the wall.  Elsewhere.  Light years away.  That was generally how it was for the Gladiatrix turned amateur starship engineer, if not in a fight or fixing something she was only physically present, never really there.  So her response was a bit delayed to Ruby's comment.

 

"It is true everywhere we go."

 

Arms folded across her chest, she turned to look at her Terran compatriot, blinking with one set of her eyelids.  "There is not much to discuss Ruby.  If there was, I would talk.  Pointless yammering doesn't help."  She growled as she spoke, as she often did, and then she shrugged in an exaggerated fashion as that was not a gesture her people did.

[Darksider42]

"Well if you are gonna be like that then..." Ruby said, rolling her eyes as she leaned again the wall. It was going to take some time for what they had ordered to be brought down. She pressed a button on her collar and her helmet started to collapse and retract. There was not a lot interesting to see in the Infra-red spectrum as far as she could tell and feeling some air on her face would be a nice change of pace from the sealed environment her suit offered. There was also the fact that supplies would take some time to actually be shipped and ready for them.

If it was not for the subtle hum of station machinery and the voices of other aliens from more exotic worlds, there would be nothing but silence between the two Voidrunners. That was not much comfort to Ruby who was finding the wait and near quiet monotonous. Bliss had confirmed that she was not going to start talking about herself anytime soon and she did not have Roulette to banter with. 

"This is going to take a while. I'm going to get drinks. You can come if you want." Seemed unlikely that Bliss would come along, but it always seemed wrong not to offer. Who knows, some mind altering chemicals in her system and she might become sociable. 

Edited February 16, 2016 by Darksider42

[TheAbsurdist]

 

She frowned a little, and made a sound in her throat at that was maybe a laugh or something else.  She never really talked to either of them about herself.  Bliss had been a gladiator.  She was clearly formerly a warrior of some sort, and she had been augmented.  But that was it.  She didn't discuss it, but she wasn't overly secretive.  

 

"Despite my... modifications, I am still of my people.  Yours share... mine does not.  Now?  Now I am the muscle and the one who intimidates for you and Stahnze.  We generally don't run into species I can be sweet on, or places that smell the way I like, and I can't go back to being a gladiator.  I put that Lor boy on a planet, because you were upset with him being on a ship, and I send him credits.  So let's drink and you can talk about yourself.  I don't have anything important to say about me."  

 

She pushed off the wall, and then followed after Ruby to get a drink.  If just to keep the Terran out of trouble.

[Darksider42]

Ruby was starting to make her way towards the station bars when she heard what Bliss said turned to Bliss, genuinely surprised. "You dropped Hral off?" With all she had done from piloting to finances, she was not aware Bliss had done that. But that quickly faded as other questions started to enter her mind. "Wait. What have you done with him exactly? How is he?" Bliss did not strike her as the sort of person that knew how to give orphans a good home. The possibilities of what could happen we endless and from the darker parts of her imagination came scenarios that actually frightened her, her own memories giving her terrible ideas.

[TheAbsurdist]

 

"You didn't want him on board."  She said it matter-of-factly, in that tone she had.  "I left him with a clan of cannibals on some backwash.  He'll learn to be strong from them."  It was dry enough to be impossible to come from a semi-amphibious species such as hers.  She waved a hand in demonstration, and then she turned her head towards Ruby and bared her 'teeth' at her crewmate in a mockery of a smile.  Given her mouth more resembled a beak under her 'lips' it was unsettling.  And she just happened to be intimidating enough that she knew how to unnerve with it.

 

"Don't worry, I gave him a knife."

[Darksider42]

There was a brief moment of silence as Ruby stared at Bliss and what she assumed was her smile. "...Oh, and here I was worried you left him on a desert planet filled with Deathwyrms." There were many things she had expected from her tall, augmented Xuli'pan ship mate but a jokes was not one of them. She had wondered up until now if she had a sense of humor. Ruby took a deep breath a motioned Bliss to follow her, clearly going with her the original plan of bar hopping. "Seriously though I was less bothered by his presence on board and more about the fact you decided to drag him along without telling the rest of us."

Edited March 2, 2016 by Darksider42

[TheAbsurdist]

"You still don't know which pronoun to use with me."  Came the flat response, but that was her tone.  Harsh and monotone, as always, but Ruby was getting used to that, familiarity was informing the Terran how the Xuli'pan was.  "There is occasion when there isn't time for something like that.  Fleeing a planet with the powers that be are not our friends."  She shrugged in that over exaggerated fashion she did that particular gesture.

 

"And then we busy after that, but I put him somewhere safe, and not with us.  You stink apes don't really seem too kind to the clutches of others.  I fail to see why you would care."

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The bar that was closest to them was a clean sort of place that was run by a Raeli, which meant it fit the aesthetic of that species.  Lots of garish colors and contrasting patterns.  It was said that visiting on their worlds and being outside of the offworlder enclave was like having a continual frontal lobe seizure.  This was no different here.  Though, as a blessing, the lights were not the nominal bright ones of the promenade.  This was a bar, and across the galaxy bars were dim.

 

Some things were universal.

 

Just like the assortment of crews, travelers, traders, smugglers and the like at these sorts of places.  This was middle of the road in terms of legitimacy, like this place, so there wasn't a feeling of oppression.  Apart from the aesthetic choices by the Raeli that owned the place.

 

There was a table that fit their needs, the top of the table was solid red, except for a quarter of the surface dedicated to a purple design of concentric circles that more or less fit in the confines.  While the chairs were green or gold around it.  But it was open and not in the middle, which was a plus.

[Darksider42]

"I certainly do. But we did not come here for lessons in grammar did we?" Ruby said to Bliss just as they entered the bar. The colours were a bit much for the bounty hunter, even if she did operate in battle scared gold armor. Thankfully the dim lights helped ease some of the raw strength of the technicolor explosion around her. She quickly ordered a drink. A "Royal Nebula" from what was translated. The glass was filled with a dark blue liquid that had a strange, cloudy emerald/gold substance in it. Seems safe for lor-like races to consume at least...

Ruby sighed as she took a seat. "Unlike most that live the mercenary life I can feel sympathy. And when it comes to people being taken off world at a young age, I take an interest in their welfare. "

[TheAbsurdist]

 

"Implication I do not?"  She tapped to order terminal then, for something viscous and brown green color that made Ruby not want to even consider what it tastes like.  Bliss was a hard read, she was sort of Lor-like, but there was enough alien about her to make it odd.  It didn't help Xuli'pans were prickly and somewhat xenophobic.

 

She lifted the glass and drank it, slowly, making a slurping noise as she did so.  Of course, at this point Ruby knew she was a noisy eater, in general, just because her mouth structure made it kind of the way of things.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The people there were varied, different species, clearly different occupations.  No one really attracting more attention than others.  Until a group of about five people come in, together.  They were mercs, that much was clear, as they seemingly were celebrating a successful run as they immediately started to ordering and grabbing up a table in a noticeable and boisterous manner.

 

Ruby's compatriot was not paying attention, really.  As she drank the vile seeming substance.

[Darksider42]

Ruby shrugged as she drank more of her explosion of multi-coloured liquor. "All that I know about you is what is written on your old bounty profile and what Turk has said." She said with all the implications left to the Xuli'pan's imagination. The noise coming into the bar caught her attention. Mercs in bars after a major victory were the sort that would cause trouble eventually. The Bounty Hunter shifted her self so that she was still in sight of them, her rifle was easy enough to draw. There was always the chance they might not actually cause trouble, but it pays to have something close to precautions.

[TheAbsurdist]

 

"Turk doesn't know me well either."  She shrugged then and widened her eyes as she looked at Ruby, her inner eyelids sliding over her eyes, and she glanced away.  "And there are better bounties to read on me than that one.  But it is tied to this name."  Waving a hand, as she kept looking away, not at the boisterous group that was still making a racket off to the side.

 

Then came the axe that was thrown at them, and Bliss snatched up her drink in time, though the attack had surprised Ruby before the vibro weapon embedded itself where her glass had been, and she drained the rest of the contents, and sighed a little, as she set the glass down and rose to her feet, squaring off with them, "You want to fight?"

Edited April 20, 2016 by TheAbsurdist

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The leader, a larger Zultasian smirked a little bit.  Taller than Bliss, and far more massive, his arms crossed across his chest as he grinned.  "I heard about you, Bliss, the Gladiator.  I heard you were a big deal."  He snorted as if he didn't believe it.  One of his compatriots smacked his left shoulder, indicating support.

 

"Don't look so big and tough at all!  Bwaaaahahaha!"  One arm unfolding to smack back against a smaller Zultasian.  "How 'bout you buy us a round, and we wont decide to make an example of you two, eh?"  

[Darksider42]

Ruby was bit shocked when she saw an axe embedded into the table. She had been trying hard to keep an eye out on them and that one moment was enough to catch her off guard. Also long enough for the sheer surprised to make her drop her drink and have its contents spill over the tables surface like technicolor puddle. She glared at the mercenaries with rage as he head became enclosed with her helm. Ruby sighed as she knocked the table over towards the Zultasians as a form of improvised cover.

 

"Oh, and no love for me then?" The bounty Hunter practically snarled as she drew her Repeater Rifle from her back. 

[TheAbsurdist]

Bliss glared at the them, holding her arms out at her waist, so that the tendrils could slide out.  Then with a faint whirring sound before then shot out and moved like serpents, twisting up and aiming the points right at the head of the lead Zultasian.  "Now is the time you want to be recognized?"  Her comment was bemused when Ruby made that comment, if she had eyebrows she would lift them, but she was more than happy to give them the fight.  "People are normally after you and Turk."  She frowned a little, or was snarling, or whatever and she narrowed her eyes, her inner eyelids closing, and then she leaped forward.

 

 

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

The large Zultasian whipped out the ugly, brutish weapon and aimed roughly at Ruby, before opening fire with a loud FHWHUMP!  The blast hitting the table that had been moved to serve as a make shift barrier.  While this happened two of the others drew firearms and moved in a wide circle intent on flanking Ruby and her Xuli'pan shipmate.  

 

The remaining members were looking to to draw their weapons as while, though were not as fast as the others.

[Darksider42]

It was hard to tell what her expression was behind that black visor, but with the way she tilted her head to the side it was not much of a stretch that Ruby was giving a similar look to Bliss. "No. Thats You and Stahnze." She responded before ducking behind the table on reflex at the sound of gunfire. The side of her rifle opened up revealing a small rack of small rockets. Adjusting Blast Radius For Non-Hostile Protection. A small prompt in her vision read out before emerging from her maskshift barricade. "If they recognized me they would be running!" Ruby shouted as she launched a rocket. It whistled in the air before landing at the feet of the Zultasian leader and exploded. Furniture was now covered in a layer of freezing agent and liquor glasses began to crack and shatter from the sudden cooling.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Darksider42