ic Try Everything (IC)

[Darksider42]

Ruby opted to stay in her armor for this. Did not matter if the planets inhabitants were not hostile, it worked in her favor to act somewhat paranoid about the possibility of getting shot. Her helmet remained absent however.  "This planet is listed as a developing world Turk. The ship is still good for travel to the next few systems so you don't have to worry about that." The Voidrunners engines might require a lot of power but they could hold enough fuel in reserve before that could become a problem. She followed the others to the airlock and down the ramp. Her repeater rifle was magnetized to the back of her armor.

 

"I'd say more than a few monsters." She said. Ruby was a bit surprised by how similar Erin and Jesse looked. Either they had cloning technology or they were twins. Guess Turk wasn't far off after all.

[Gizmo]

Midnight's expression was unreadable behind his mask as Jessie disembarked, then Aquaria and the ship's crew. The grey, sunless day seemed a little bit darker around the imposing, black clad figure as he took in the new arrivals with an unnerving focus. It wasn't until the Deep One spoke that he moved from a pace behind Wander, taking two smooth strides forward. When he spoke it was quiet, barely reaching past the immediate group and filtered of any emotion. "Once lost a White in space for months," the taciturn vigilante confided, tipping the brim of his fedora up slightly from his face and tilting his chin toward Erin. "Did a good job." There was a brief pause before he gave Aquaria a thumbs up to make sure his meaning was clear, the gesture managing to be only a little bit awkward.

[Tiffany Korta]

Sitara waited for the two to have there reunions before making her way over to the two human heroes. She made sure to keep her hands away from her two blasters and not appear as any kind of threat.

 

"Hello there I'm Sitara Shashikala and I'm part of a group called the Praetorians. I doubt you'be heard of us, we've only just returned from a long time away."

 

Sitara wasn't quite sure if she had a future with them after what she'd done, but for now she was still helping them out.

"These two were witnesses to an unfortunate incident and at some point the Praetorians will want to talk to them about it all. But there's no hurry for now, I'm sure they have many tales to tell."

[Electra]

Erin watched Sitara carefully as she approached, but extended her hand wilingly enough. "I'm Erin White, but I go by Wander. This is Midnight. We appreciate your help in getting Jessie and Aquaria back home. Did you have any trouble along the way?" 

 

At the same time, Jessie descended the ramp again, this time with Aquaria in tow. She nodded in agreement with Midnight's sentiments, giving Aquaria a small smile of encouragement, then stepped off the ramp to stand behind Erin, safe on solid ground, safe with her counterpart between her and everything else. She murmured something inaudible into Erin's ear. 

 

"What?" Erin turned to focus on Jessie. 

 

"We promised you would pay them for their work," Jessie mumbled more loudly, her fair skin coloring with sudden embarrassment.  "They work in space, you know, doing stuff for money. We gave them the ship we took, but it was broken, so I said if they helped us get home, we could pay them. You could pay them." She ducked her head, studying her new alien shoes. 

 

"Ah." Erin pursed her lips and took a breath, glanced at Midnight, then turned back to the Voidrunner crew. "So, what's the going rate on ferrying stranded Terrans back home?" she asked the group at large, still not entirely sure who was in charge. 

[Brown Dynamite]

The oft too talkative Roulette figured he'd let Ruby handle the negotiations, rather than butt in, as he stepped out of the airlock after her.  Not because she was the ship's captain.  But, because she actually could speak the local language.  He'd save his unwanted input for the inevitable discussion of billing the Praetorians for taking the so called Traveller along on their travels.  Giving Erin a terse nod of acknowledgement, Turk turned his focus to examining their surroundings.

 

By his estimation this Lonely Point Naval Base seemed like a storage facility of sorts.  It was clearly not an up to date spaceport.  Not that Terra was a travel hotspot unless you were a refugee or seeking a war.  It looked far too unprepared for space combat to be a military base.  At least not one worth talking about.  So that left some sort of warehouse facility as the only possibility he could figure.

[TheAbsurdist]

Bliss remained somewhat crouched and just... letting this reunion happen.  She had precious little to add.  She had only wanted to get them back to their home...  She understood them.  To some degree, and while she didn't agree or like how they comported themselves to some degree, she didn't really invest in disliking them for it.

 

She tried not to think of her own time with similar things happening, when she left Xuli'pa.  Stowing away, and then taking in Solace.  Slowly she stood, and stared at the Terrans talking.  Not understanding them, but she got body language, especially between the two Jessie's.  Did Terrans have clutches?  They looked to be primates, so she didn't know...  Confounding.

 

Still.

 

It was good to have a home.  Clearly Jessie needed such, and Aquaria's loyalty was admirable, but their paths would unentangle and she couldn't help them in a fashion she felt would be beneficial.

[Darksider42]

For the moment Ruby just let the reunion run its course. "Ruby Voxx. Captain of the Voidrunner." She announced as she stepped forward, her accent sounding notably British rather than the neutral tone her translator put through. "Things got rather..." She paused as she glanced over Jessie and Aquaria.  "...complicate. Fast. Then again thats most of our jobs." She was not sure just how significant the idea of a Star Knight getting killed would be on this world. That would have to be something to discuss once all the feel good emotions of their reunion had faded.

 

"I doubt Terra is involved in the pan-galactic trade of Credits. Though I think I recall Aquaria here mentioning something about treasure?" In hindsight they were likely making things up under duress. Could not hurt to ask after all.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Darksider42

[Electra]

"Treasure?" Wander nudged Jessie into a spot behind her, a gesture that was part protection and part sibling dominance. It was clear that nothing and no one was going to approach Singularity without Wander having something to say about it. She returned her blank-faced countenance to Captain Ruby. "Its only fair that we compensate you for your time and effort in getting Jessie and Aquaria back to us," she allowed. "But you're right about the credits thing, all I've got is spare change from my last trip to space and that's not going to do you much good. We can, however, probably help you get hold of whatever raw materials you might find useful or valuable. Is gold a thing out in space? Or precious gems? We've got a friend who can help us set you up." In the broad and varied economy of space, Erin figured, letting Mark do his thing was much less likely to crash a commodities market. 

[Darksider42]

"Gold is good in space. Gems are grab bag when it comes to value unless they are Daka Crystals of course. Wars are practically started over the things" Ruby replied with a shrug. She doubted they had those crystals however. Earth would have advanced greatly by now and from what she could see, It had not quite hit that point of technological progression. "We'll hammer out the details with whoever is supplying." SHe paused and glaced over to Aquaria and Jessie. "You two going to be alright?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"We will be well," croaked Aquaria, though what she meant was that they were back on Earth and Jessie was with her people again. She hopped over to crouch alongside Jessie, looking up at the friends they'd made in space. "I never thought I would have a pod in the sea of stars," she said to the Voidrunners, meaning every word. "But you swam with us when the waters were thin. We are forever grateful." She smiled with those too-wide lips, exposing that mouth big enough to swallow a small child, and spoke in a booming voice that made the sacs on the side of her throat bulge and swell. She croaked in Lemurian - Ia! Ia! Fhtagn! but what Ruby heard was clear enough. "When the stars are right!" 

[Tiffany Korta]

“There’s a station out at the Wormhole at the edge of the system, it wouldn’t hurt if you arranged for their ship to have it’s tanks refilled. I don’t believe you have such facilities on planet?”

 

Since arriving on Earth, and after getting over the excitement that she was finally back home, she’d been thinking about other business. Obviously SItara was still a Praetorian at heart, despite her dubious status right now.

“I don’t know if you could help but there was an incident during the Incursion when several objects were released toward Earth. I wondered if you could get me access to the telemetry of those objects?”

[Gizmo]

"Will make arrangements," Midnight told Ruby with something that might have been a small nod or just her imagination. Trevor was thinking along the same lines as Erin; while the resources of the Hunter clan could have procured a sizeable amount of precious metal on relatively short notice having Mark create the gold would ultimately raise fewer questions at home. That didn't mean he wanted the bounty hunters to know the specifics of the proverbial golden goose. "Refuelling at Aleph Station should be no issue." Since the formation of the wormhole on the edge of the solar system the Freedom League had been eager to make new contacts in the galactic community at large; it wouldn't hurt to make sure that word got around that helping Terrans stranded in deep space was worth a spacefarer's time.

 

He looked to the Traveller with a weighty silence before saying, "More specific?" A lot of things had happened during the Communion's attack on Earth, from nanite swarms pretending to be evangelists to the plain of computronium converted out of sand in the Empty Quarter, and he wasn't about to hand out information on most of it.

[Electra]

Erin nodded at Midnight. "I'll call Edge, get the ball rolling." She stepped aside several paces to gain a little privacy, Jessie following at her heels without command or comment, pausing only to give a little finger-wave to her companions from the Voidrunner. 

 

They stopped about twenty yards away, under a tree on the edge of the parking lot. "I really am sorry," Jessie blurted out suddenly, wringing her hands hard enough to crack her knuckles as the words came tumbling out, fast and faster. "I should've stopped this from happening, I never should've let Aquaria touch that glowing thing. Or I should've protected her better so she didn't have to fight and hurt that... I don't know what it was, the thing that was attacking her, and we didn't have to fly away in the ship. And I shouldn't have promised that you would pay the Voidrunners but we didn't have any other way to get back to earth and I just wanted to go home-"

 

"Jessie! Stop!" Erin's barked command cut across her doppleganger's torrent of apologies. "You did what you had to do to keep the both of you alive and get home. You didn't have an episode, you didn't kill anyone-" She cut herself off as a red flush of shame swept over Jessie's pale face. "Jess..." 

 

"Nobody died!" Jessie said hastily. "Nobody got badly hurt. But it was scary, and I got scared. They wanted to arrest us. I thought- the box..." she trailed off on a miserable, confused whisper, wrapping her arms around herself and ducking her head. 

 

Erin swept a hand through her hair and regarded her double with consternation. "We gotta figure out a way to keep you at home, Jessie," she finally said. "You're not ready for the hero stuff." She reached a hand out halfway and then pulled it back, too awkward to make a connection. "But don't worry about any of this stuff. Trevor and I will fix it, I promise. I'm just glad you made it back." Leaving Jessie to compose herself, she took another couple steps away and pulled out her phone. "Hey Mark, it's me. I really need a favor right now if you're not too busy..." 

[Darksider42]

Ruby raised an eyebrow at the rather intimidating figure of Midnight as he spoke. "Well thats good to know at least." She was fairly certain The Voidrunners fuel systems were not running low, but it was good to know there was somewhere to refuel. "I agree they should stay planetside for a while. Doubt they would have been able to do anything they have been accused of." Having seen them in action, the bounty hunter did not think two terrified aliens from a pre-FTL society could have successfully defeated and killed a Star Knight. Especially considering the state they were in when the Lor started to close in...

 

She looked over her should to the rest of The Voidrunners. "They are arranging payment now. We'll need to negotiate resources for obvious reasons." Her throat felt that same tingling sensation as her implants manipulated her vocal cords and speech sectors of her brain.

[Avenger Assembled]

In a swirl of mystic energy that would have temporarily blinded any magical onlookers, Mark appeared - looking dapper in the black suit, blue shirt, and gold tie he'd been flirting with wearing when he wasn't actually out with the Liberty League. "Hey Wander, Midnight, I got your message and - Jessie! Aquaria!" He lit up with excitement at the sight of the two lost lambs, knowing how long Erin and Trevor had been searching for them. "That's great! Are you guys going to have a party?" he asked, looking excitedly from Trevor to Erin. "Because I've actually been saving up for this moment - there's cake, fireworks, some music...uh, if you guys want. Hello there," he said with a wave, finally noticing the Voidrunner crew. "I'm Edge. Nice to meet you." 

[Tiffany Korta]

Sitara in her very long life had seen her share of superpowered individuals in her times so the sudden arrival of Edge didn’t bother in the slightest, though she still took the time to give him a greeting wave. Then she returned her attention to Midnights questions.

 

“We encountered the last survivor of an ancient race at Kestevan 79 who had a plan to reintroduce his species, apparently Earth was a target for this reintroduction. We stopped most of his capsules from travelling through a wornhole to Earth, but a few go through and may have landed on Earth.”

 

She pressed a few button an a hologram appeared floating above her wrist comm.

“I can provide you with the data from the mission once I get a look at you storage mediums, control for Jessie’s new boots as well.  As an aside it was my first look at Earth for over two thousand years I thought the place lost, I’ glad I was mistaken.”

[Darksider42]

"Uhh...Hi." Ruby awkwardly said with the appearance of Edge who came right out of nowhere. She was starting to wonder how technologically backwards the people of Earth really were when they employed teleportation casually. She pushed the thought away and decided to focus on things that matter. Like getting paid. "I'm Ruby and these two are Roulette and Bliss. They don't speak the local language I'm afraid." She said, gesturing to her silent companions. "We were the ones that managed to bring your friends back planetside."