Nerrone's Rangers IC [Thread 1]

"Sure, what do you need Xol? If it has to do with fixing Ion, I was already about to start" I said.

"Er, you didn't even have the parts..." Like magic, Grecsh appeared and placed Ion's frame and various pieces between the pilot and the engineer.

Xol brought a welder out from his pack. "I was thinking we could start on fixing up the frame, then find out what the C.L.E.U. did to his internal parts." With that, they got to work.

I sat down at a work table and got to work after sucking up Ion's memory and files into a thumb-drive.

Kwa, quietly luxuriating in the brief respite from running around and being shot at, caught sight of Crycell wandering towards her with a somewhat bewildered expression on his face and Talvox over his shoulder.

"You'll have to put him down on a bed in one of the cabins," she told him, "the cabinets in the bathrooms contain painkillers and more bandages if he needs them, but that's the best we can do right now."

I had fixed most of the motor control and free-thinking quibit (Look it up :P) conduits and plugged the memory back into Ion's head after attaching a small power generator. His head shuttered and began to try talking, but the circuits where still getting jammed and fried. I didn't want to risk memory damage, so I took the thumb-drive out. I sighed, "Guys, be careful with the head, but try to repair it if you can. I'm taking one of my allowed breaks and showering. Today's been hectic. Also, tell Kwa that if we get to a planet where I can get supplies, have her tell me over the com." I said, walking to my quarters.

Celdryc, upn Quarks the reply, checked the actual damage to the ship. Apparently the ship sustained more damage while on the ponderra, as enough damage was done to the engines that it was currently incapable of warp speed. He set to work immediatly. He finished within a matter of minutes, temporarily fixing the ship with rewireing till he had the proper tools for full repairs. This fix worked fine, but it would take much less fire from an enemy ship to destroy the engine. As he walked back around the ship, he came across Xol and Grecsh trying to fix Ion. Concerned for the safety of the crew and ship, he sprinted over and made sure the C.L.U.E. plate had not been reattatched. Unfortunatly, it had. Cedryc ripped the plate off, forgetting that tIon was partially conscious, and studied it.

Meanwhile, Jo'ma Bor's fightercraft decloaked and magentically attached itself to the Lakuna's ventral hull. He teleported aboard and began exploring the ship.

This thing could use some paint, he thought. The Marin-Si'hu's warships had much better paint jobs. Sure, it cost us a bit of extra cash, but it made us look like an organized outfit instead of "a bunch of militaristic rebels".

I could use something to eat. Bor went looking for the kitchenette, hoping the Lakuna's food was better than its paint job.

"Daggit," muttered Crycell. He went back to his cabin, and put him down on his bed and went to the bathroom and found some bandages and a bit of painkiller. He doubted he would need them, seeing as he's already stabilized. He found a place to put his Lightning blade, freeing him of his weapon, making it somewhat easier to move around, but still slow because of his armor.

He searched around, but found no change of clothes. "Oi," he muttered, thinking that the next time he went to a store, he would buy something to change into. Talvox stirred again, and Crycell sped over to where he was. He was still unconscious. He set the painkiller on his cabinet, and put the bandages on his dresser. His stomach rumbled. "Cripe," said Crycell. He went over to the Kitchen area/living area to make something.

After seeing what Celdryc had done, Grecsh got up from watching Xol work and grabbed the plate away from him. "I'll take that. And next time, ask before you act. Xol knows what he's doing, even if you don't." With that, he walked back and handed the plate back to Xol, who unhooked a few wires from the bottom of it and set it to the side.

((My way of saying, Dark, stay out of Xol's work, or Grecsh will get really angry. ))

Dagon, unsatisfied with dozing in his bunk while everyone else ran around doing Spode-knows-what on his ship, pushed himself to his feet and stumbled into the living area.

"If anyone's starting a fry-up," he announced, a little sleepily, "Put me a couple of rashers of bacon in the pan, would you?" He steered himself into the bedraggled sofa in front of the room's holo-screen and flicked it on, scrolling through the channels for something to take his mind off the twinge that persisted in his side no matter how many painkillers he took.

"*click* IN THE NAME OF SPODE THE FATHER AN—*click* —SumaTek's top-of-the-range thermal stabilisers and power couplings for only— *click* —now mash the Qornisquashes we prepared earlier in the pan and drizzle in—*click* —ing news from Ezekiel IV: Investigations continue in the wake of a Black Market raid tha—*click* —and as the first-quarter comes to a close the score is Cyrilli 1, Earth zero. Stay tuned, folks: we'll be coming to you live from the Veltzia XI deep-space stadium to bring you all the action!"

"Ah!" Dagon exclaimed, "I thought I'd missed this match — didn't know CSC broadcast all the way out here in the sticks!" He put his feet up, lying across the whole length of the couch and waiting intently for the ad break to finish.

Chalen explored of what the ship Lacuna had to offer. First he had a look in the living room which was huge and had really comfy chairs that are much bigger then him. Then he explored the hallway which was a bit long. The bathrooms smelled wonderful as if it was cleaned with lemon scented bathroom sprays. Then he had a look in the engine room which he thought it was wayy high tech in his opinion. Last but not least he looked for his cabin room. Chalen enterd his new room which to his amazement it almost looked like his bedroom back home. His bed was a double bunker, he had bookshelves, a desk with an ordinary computer, a telephone to contact someone from his home planet and a bunch of other stuff. Chalen still wants to have a talk with Kwa but he thought he should leave her be for the moment. Chalen decided he should get some sleep after all that fighting they did. He hopped into his new bed, put on his fave night cap on and soon fell asleep.

Xol set Ion's frame down in frustration. He had been at it for nearly an hour by now, and it was challenging work. At a certain point, he had stopped seeing wires and circuits and started seeing spaghetti noodles and crackers, and sure sign that food was the right direction. He made his way to the kitchenette as Grecsh sat down on the sofa to watch the holoscreen.

Celdryc managed to resist stabbing Grecsh to death, but continued to glare at him for a long time. Then he watched Xol work, being sure to check that he discnnected the right wires from the C.L.U.E. plate. He hovered around a few minutes, accasionally giving pointers like "No, put that there" or "connect this to that curcuit board, not that outlet." He then decided Xol knew what he was doing and left him to his work. He wandered around the ship for a little while before finding his room. There he began fixing the slight damage that had been done to his suit during the battle.

Kwa emerged after a long shower, far more relaxed despite the niggling concern about how much the water was going to cost them. She glanced around for any sign of Chalen, eventually resorting to her comm-link: "Chalen, you there?"

On the sofa in the living area, Dagon raised his fist in the air and shouted a barely intelligible jubilation as the match he was watching turned in his team's favour. It was a sport which baffled Kwa and, apparently, a great many other people he had met in his travels. He had tried in vain, once, to explain the complexities of a game involving two teams of seven players kicking a ball around a field in zero gravity to her: it had ended with him begging her not to put a bullet in the holo-screen.

Grecsh had been cheering, but stopped when the game turned against his team's favor. Better hope Dagon's luck is as bad as I hope it is, or I'll be kissing that yellow spice tankard goodbye...

Meanwhile, Xol had fixed himself a full platter of Thezin sushi, complete with exotic seaweed wrappings and Taalkin crab meat. Ah, the wonders of modern de-hydration meals...

Chalen heard his com link go off thus waking him up. It's from miss Kwa. She must have finished shower already Chalen thought. He tapped his com link to listen to his message. "Chalen, you there?" Chalen responded to her message. "Chalen here can I have that talk about fear of fire. Shall we meet up in my or your cabin room?" Chalen awaited for Kwa's response.

"Come down to mine," she replied, "It's the second door from the left. We've got a little while before I start winding down the party out there and get down to business again." Clearly audible from where she sat in her small cabin, a minor argument seemed to have broken out in front of the holo-screen about whether, as Dagon put it, "That was well in!" or whether, as the referee would have it, "That" was in fact not "well in" at all. She shook her head in mild bewilderment.

"Okay Chalen will be there just give me few secs and I be on my way!" Chalen forced himself to get out of the bed, left his night cap on the pillows, picked up his backpack and left his cabin room to meet up with Kwa. On the way, he decided to make a quick stop at the medi bay to see if the others had made any progress on healing their injured teammate. He still seems to be in stable condition. Chalen nodded in respect and set off for Kwa's room. He took the corret way and soon enough he had arrived. Chalen knocked on the door politly and waited for the door to be opened.

The door swung open and Kwa beckoned him inside. Her cabin wasn't much to look at: a narrow bed set up against one side, made with fastidious hospital corners. Apart from that all the room hosted was a small metal strongbox, a small table and two chairs. She sat down on one.

"Now, Chalen," She began, "I understand that we have already hired you, but I wanted to clarify things a little." She thought for a moment about how to phrase her next question, and eventually settled on the blunt approach: "I want to know why you're here. Dagon would recruit a wounded puppy if he thought he could get it past me, but I'm trying to run this organisation at a profit..."

Chalen honestly tried his best on explaining the reason why. "Chalen just want to help those in need. I'm not really into payment myself and I also want to try prove myself that I can really be helpful despite flaws like fear of fire and thunder. I'm really sorry miss Kwa if I embarassed you and others. Sometimes I hate to think if Chalen let you down." Chalen looked at the floor, not feeling very proud after saying that to Kwa. He clutched his necklace tight, hoping it might make him feel a bit better.

Kwa sighed. She would have to talk to Dagon about their recruiting practices.

"I know, Chalen. I'm just trying to—" she paused, thinking for a moment longer.
"...Alright then. If that's what you really want, then I'll give you a month. I'll get Dagon to show you how to work a blaster and I'm sure we can find a use for someone with wings in the field." I can't believe I'm doing this.


"I don't care if he's a robot, the ref's an effing disgrace!" Dagon could be heard shouting in the other room — maybe at Grecsh, maybe at the holo-screen itself, which couldn't shout back.

It didn't take long for Celdryc to finish the repairs, and some modifications. He ended up with a few leftover pieces, as he had done similar to what he did to the ships engines too it, but with a trick he had learned to make it's energy last 2x longer. Next time this ship is docked I will have to do the same to the engines he thought. When he was done with the repairs he took all the electronic equipment he could find in his room, except for the lighting, and tore it open to use its parts. He set to work with all he could find and some metel scraps he had with him on his creation, plus any pieces he could spare from his stealth suit. Speaking of the ship.....

I got out of the shower and put on new clothes. "In the name of Spode, where is my tool belt?" Upon finding it, I contacted Celdryc from the Com. "How far along are you? I just need to clean up background noise on Ion's central memory." As I waited for a response, I plugged the thumb-drive into my self-built computer (With 10 terabytes of ram) and opened Ion's digital functioning files and routed the files into the camera and the speakers on my computer. "How's it going Ion? Don't try to move, you're just a computer right now. And by the way, you take up a lot of space on this thing" I managed a light smile.

"You see, that's where you're wrong, Dagon," Grecsh said as they continued watching the game. "That last goal was perfectly in, and the player wasn't offsides at all!"

Xol simply continued munching on his sushi, making the occasional comment and remark about the game.

"Argh! What was that? What was that? I mean... what... was that?" Dagon held his his head in his hands as the final whistle blew, on a score of 3-2 in Grecsh's favour.