Chapter 4: Borderline

[Nohiki]

"Darn, nothing!" the android cursed, unplugging the console from the pod's power source and heading back. She didn't bother checking the other pods as they will need to do some construction work before they could revive them, if not downright land the ship to provide atmosphere to the room and corridor to the first chamber where their makeshift medical facility was. Judging from the damage to this part of the ship, fixing the landing gear actually looked like the better solution. she already knew it could deploy, it just didn't fire up, and that was something she could fix. She made her way back in 10 minutes, checking on the Anero'Nolmi warrior. "How are the repairs going? Say, have you seen a guy with claws wearing purple clothes by a chance?" she asked causally.

[Zetherus]

Keilumtol turned his gaze from the machine to look at the android. "Well see for yourself. It's acting better then the previous model! Oh you mentioned the small scrawny creature in the mess hall, yes, that is the last place I him." He said as he stood up and the V.I went off about his armor status, "Armor reactors has reached full power initialization, preparing to reboot system please stand by." His armor beeped several times before the lights on it turned off. "See now wait for it!" He continued as his armor reactivated in an instant with the V.I reporting, "Armor has reached full restoration; defense grid online, weapon systems ready, shields at full power. Armor systems are ready for engagement." Keilumtol smiled and unplugged the cables from the generator watching the device shut itself off like it was intended. He looked at Ariaka and said, "Now then I'm sure you didn't get my contact earlier asking if I can inspect the Croatoan. Permission to search the ship of unwanted materials and possible repairs captain?" He repeated as he turned back to his generator and disassembled it into parts that fitted into the empty slots in his armor. After he was finished he moved the engineering table back to the wall then walked back to Ariaka awaiting orders.

[Kauria]

Rucha jumped when Tal'set approached, her grip on the glass slipping by several centimeters. "Sorry, I guess I'm just a little on edge. That was a quick recovery." Her eyes slid back to where a few personnel were watching what seemed to be a televised debate, her ears strained for any mention of a rebellion.
"I'd heard there was a cafeteria somewhere nearby. I would kill for some real food right now, " she said, anxious to get out of the lobby. She peeled back her gray lips with her free hand to examine her teeth. "Tell me honestly, do I look more like an herbivore or an omnivore to you? I haven't had time to read up on the species files, and I don't think there's any known way to categorize our lovely nutrition bricks back on board."

[Zetherus]

Tal'set laughed under his breath then replied to Rucha's peculiar question, "I'm not sure what you mean! Do you like veggies and meats or just veggies?" He said while standing there thinking of something that would ease his mind off his broken arm. "Say, you said a cafeteria was nearby right? Then lets go there and get something to eat then. I've been starving ever since I left my kill back on Zenith!" He continued as he headed for the door. "Come on guys lets go get something real to eat!" He called out as he entered out the door that lead outside.

[Morty]

Kiruza exchanged surprised glances with the other crewmembers. Tal'Set was acting rather cheerful for someone who had just had their arm broken in five places. "I will attribute this to the medicine." she hissed humourously once the Anero'nolmi was out of earshot. She set down her glass of quarantine and tilted her head, inspecting Rucha's alien dentition. "Omnivorous." she ventured, scanning her memory for anything on Ceretai nutrition. Failing that, she rose and stretched, shaking out her spiny ruff, quite hungry herself. Unlike the Ceretai she was quite at ease now, in the whitewashed halls of the medical facility. She was amazed at the efficiency of the healing equipment. She wondered if their ship had anything of the like. Possibly, as there were still areas of the vessel they hadn't yet explored. She was going to make a point of locating the other laboratories, when they got back.

[Nohiki]

"No!" Gasped Ariaka at the warrior's suggestion, "I mean, given your technical prowess i'd be glad for help, but we know that you do not have anything to ensure your survival without atmosphere, and i just returned from a part of ship where entire areas were missing. You could die behind any bulkhead you open." the android explained. "I am going to inspect the landing gear of the ship. We know it deploys well, but it is not firing. I'll see if i can find a safe passage through for you, or, if you'd like, we have a shuttle in hangar that is missing a part of cockpit. Plugging that hole would improve the speed of repairs greatly as we could bypass the damaged areas in the shuttle without the need of EVA. Also, i cleared you for access to the explored part of the ship, use this keycard to open any door. If it won't open, there is probably only void behind it. You can use it to browse the computers for history logs, i imagine you would be interested in that." the android provided the Anero'Nolmi with options.

[Zetherus]

The commando looked at the android confused then responded, "And I almost came looking for you, how tragic that would have been! Anyways the shuttle I will repair, just I need a manual to fix the thing and thanks for the historical updates. I will study them when I get the chance. Now then the manuals?" He walked up towering over Ariaka then raised his right hand waiting for the manuals.

[Nohiki]

Yeah, tragic. Can't wait to see the look on the others' face when i say you joined the crew. They'll toss me out an airlock. Ariaka thought, making a note to sent another message regarding this to the shuttle. She then looked at the outstretched hand and then straight into the warrior's face. "What are you expecting, a paper book?! Wow, you've been in stasis for long. Go to the hangar and use the console similar to this one. The schematics are here." she showed him how to access the data, "Though we probably don't have all the spare parts and resources to fully restore it. Just tear some metal plates off the walls and weld it in, that should do it. It'll never be re-entry worthy again, but we have one shuttle that can do that, so no need for complete repair now." she said, checking her power level. "I'm gonna be heading to the landing gear. As far as i know communication works in that area, so there should be no problem."

After that, she made a small detour to the bridge and recorded a message about everything that happened so far on the ship, including finding the new stasis pods. Then she went to do the repairs.

OOC: If anyone else wants more characters now's the time

[Awesomoman]

The sudden cheerfulness of Tal'set seemed very...off. None the less, Lance had failed to grab something on the ship, and while he didn't let on to it, he was starving. "I'm sure they'll have a variety of plants we can eat from. the real question is, do they have any meat?" Lance knew he liked meat, after watching Tal'set kill that animal he had sudden pictures in his head of a variety of ways it could have been prepared. Thinking back to it just started to make him hungrier. "We should probably hurry and not let Tal'set get to far a head of us, who knows what kind of trouble that medicated fool might get us into if left alone." Lance began to follow where Tal'set had gone.

[Kauria]

"Good idea." Rucha nodded somberly, took another swig of quarantine, and hurried after Tal'set. The hospital cafeteria was a glass-domed building that abutted the facility and smelled just as strongly of antiseptic. A medic walked past carrying a tray of nondescript yellow mush. It looked vaguely plastic.
"Forget this." Rucha pushed her way out through the double doors again. "First time on a civilized planet in who knows how long, I'm eating real food. This place smells good." She crossed the street to a seedy-looking restaurant that flickered in the fading light. "Kind of surprised they'd let it get so crusty so close to a hospital. Remember, I have the money." Rucha fixed her gloves, rolled her shoulders, shoved the door open, and disappeared inside.

[Zetherus]

Tal'set was at a table in the restaurant eating a huge chunk of meat with his hands on a wide platter filled with other foods as his casted left arm rested on the table corner. He was enjoying himself until he saw Rucha walk in , "Hey over here Rucha?" He yelled out across the restaurant as he stood up behind a decorative wall that separated the tables. The mercenary sat back down enjoying his meal as others that were eating became angry when he stood up and called out across the great smelling building.

Meanwhile on Croatoan...
Keilumtol lowered his hand and smiled from the inconvenience. "Why yes of course I forgot about what time I'm in. Well now I'll be at the shuttle then repairing it, see you until then!" He growled as he turned and headed through the door to where the extra shuttle bey is. When he reached the landing bey, he walked up and squeezed through the door that lead into the shuttle and began pressing buttons on the controls while resting his left elbow on top of the seat head rests. As soon that the ship was activated he backed himself out of the shuttle and turned on one of the terminals nearby to study what is wrong. He saw on the terminal that matched the problem Ariaka explained so he shrugged and walked up to one of the nearby walls and ripped off a metal panel. The warrior walked back to the shuttle and peaked inside to find out how much metal he will need and found a good estimate, but an idea filled his mind. "Computer tell me if I can some how link a remote control module to this space craft?" He lifted his right hand and opened it projecting a blue light over the craft's cockpit. The V.I beeped reporting a possible solution, "Small craft is capable of remote possession but required device is advised. Bringing up schematics of capable equipment to use." Keil's computer brought up a local file while he was looking at it but non matched the shuttles controls so he came up with another idea and asked, "Computer search for any robotics nearby that use a an A.I core?" The computer beeped once more, "The Croatoan has 60% of it's structure atmosphere vacuumed and the closest scan of one is drifting in the landing gear sector." Keilumtol sighed "damn so there really is no others just Ariaka?" The V.I beeped finishing his question, "Positive, code named: Ariaka, is the only A.I core that is registering on radar scans!" The commando muted his computer then started talking to himself, "That shuttle is a joke! I can't fit in that thing nor along sit in it!" He began pacing until he figured that he can't go with Ariaka to the hydraulic sector. The warrior stopped pacing and brought up his comm-link to contact the Android of the problem, "Captain, I can't fit in this shuttle of yours nor along control it safely. I recommend a safe passage to your sector that isn't vacuumed?" He awaited Ariaka's response as he stood alone in the shuttle bey.

[Nohiki]

Captain. She liked that. It was not like she wanted to set herself above the others, but she has kept the ship in one piece... Well what was left of it... And one would have expected at least a thank you for hauling their hides out of stasis. She woke them because she needed a crew to help the ship survive, instead she got a bunch of amnesiacs who she had to take care of above all else. Funny bunch, yes, but kinda useless. She'll have to think about this in her spare time. "I didn't ask you to fly it, i ask you to weld a metal plate where the big hole is." Ariaka said jokingly and forwarded a safe passage map to the landing engine.

the diagnostics did her little good. According to the console, everything was green, further evidenced by the gear deploying flawlessly on Zenith. "Arrrrghhh..... Where does it hurt you little bugger?!" she cursed the machinery. "Or could it be...." she scrolled to a different window. "wonderful." she said in surrender, slowly sitting on a nearby bench. She turned the comms on: "Heyyyy..... About the landing gear, the problem is much simpler as i thought. We're outta gas."

[Awesomoman]

Lance took a step outside and surveyed the area. He couldn't really smell with his helmet filter on so he had to take Rucha's word. Then again, there wasn't much danger, taking his helmet off for a meal wouldn't leave him vulnerable to anyone. As he grabbed to slip his helmet off a bunch of warning lights went off.
>WARNING: UNKNOWN AIR BORN VIRUSES! REMOVAL OF HELMET MAY RESULT IN INFECTION!
Lance cursed and let go of his helmet, he didn't think he would be needing to remove his armor for anything. Luckily for him he remembered where his quarantine was, he had set it down on the shuttle before they left which wasn't that long ago, it should still be there. "You all go ahead, i think i left something on the shuttle."
When Lance arrived at the shuttle, he heard noises inside, he stopped and listened.
"What are we looking for again?"
"Anything and everything that might suggest what these guys are up to."
SH*T, they were searching it. If they found the weapons bag they would jump to a very wrong and very bad conclusion, he had to get it out of there. Calmly he walked right up to the shuttle, "Excuse me, but would whoever's in there please come out?" There was silence, then the unmistakable noise of a class 3 SMG safety being turned off then whispering. Finally one of them spoke, "Marine, what is it you want?" Like hell he was going to tell them, but he had to say something to get them out of there. Then, idea. "I left my quarantine somewhere on there, nothing big. If you could had it to me I'll be on my way." There was another moment of silence, then the click again. One of the men appeared with his gun on his back and the glass of quarantine in his hand. "This it?" Lance smiled. "Yes, thank you." He turned around and walked around a corner, then chugged the quarantine. He then checked to see if his helmet had scanned the communicator the guard had on. Perfect. Lance then made a quick call, "Ariaka. Come in Ariaka. This is Lance, i have a favor to ask. Go onto the frequency I'm about to send you and say there is a security code 9 on one of the floors. I'll tell you why later." He then sent her the communicator information.

[Morty]

Kiruza froze for a moment, torn between sticking with the most combat-ready team member and following the larger group. "Are you sure-- that's a good idea?" she called ineffectually as she watched Rucha follow the Anero'nolmi into a shady bar. The Shis's chagrined gaze followed a tray loaded with several glass flutes of radioactive green, caution tape yellow, and hot pink gelatines. Why couldn't they have stayed at the cafeteria? Her spiny hulk bent double to render herself inobtrusive, the scaly arthropod slithered after Rucha, flicking her tongue one final time before she bid farewell to the scent of the chemical nectar.

[Zetherus]

Keil was about to catch up to Ariaka in the landing engine sector but he heard the android recontact him about their problem. He kept pace as he neared the sector talking into his comm, "Well do you know what fuel your ship uses? If it's energy based then I might be able to make it work for a short period, if we desperately need to!" He put his comm back on standby and followed the map's safety route. A few minutes have passed while he walked and he entered through a strong metal door seeing Ariaka sitting on the bench looking sort of downed. "So what else do we need to find to be of some use to our minor problem?" He asked not worried as he walked up to the window and identified the same error Ariaka explained. "Your hydraulic engine looks as if it needs a liquid based energy to make it run! I have no ideas to make this type of fuel unless of course if you have any leads of stored fuel elsewhere on this vessel?" He mentioned as he began searching around the room for any leads but couldn't find any.