Bryke
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As Bryke looked around, he tried to keep from yawning as he watched Jessie, Terra, and Zevortro work. When he woke up, Terra had ordered everyone away as she and Jessie removed some dirt. They had revealed more of that purple material, a good foot wide. After that, they started to set up two long metal legs they attached to an upside-down shield generator. There had been a lot of talk amongst the crew members, but Terra had said to wait and eat. As after that two people brought up trays of food.
He didn’t understand anything, but Terra wanted it so he said nothing as he went to eat. He looked at Zevortro, frowning a bit. When Zevortro told him and Vivis about how Terra had yelled at him about figuring out what Jessie was. Well, he didn’t quite understand that. But then when Zevortro told them his theory, Bryke had almost passed out. The idea that the Cult Brainwasher might get free was scary, and that Jessie might find a way to shut him down? That explained everything. And he hoped that he hadn’t said anything while he was asleep. Jessie was a resource that the whole capsule needed to survive.
In things like the crash, there was one truth he knew. You lived through things like this if you were smart, skilled, and lucky. That was the only way to survive and this place was textbook that. Already the shield had been rammed by those Flying Worms, a good forty of them had died in minutes! Given that they had all been from one direction, that meant that they weren’t thinkers. There was still a chance those things were used as organic drones, but he hoped they weren’t.
“So what do you think is down there?” Vivis’s voice asked from his left.
He chuckled and shook his head, throwing his fears away for now. “I’m betting part of a space station, you?”
“Old abandoned spaceship of an unknown race. I mean the chance is there, right?” Vivis said with a bit of hope in her voice.
Bryke looked at her, and then he thought about that idea. If that was what it was, then they might be able to use it. It would be safer for the passengers, or they use it as a prison cell. Then he blinked and looked around the clearing. None of them had even thought that was possible, and the more he thought about it, the more that made sense to him. If that was true, then Terra needed to know now. “Nova!”
“Bryke? You okay?” Vivis asked, concern in her voice.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thought of the worst possible result. Gotta talk to the boss lady,” Bryke said as he walked towards them.
As he reached them, he heard Zevortro’s amazed voice. “….. so you were just able to make a null gravity generator that easy?”
“Yeah. Once you’ve had to do repairs on both systems, they're pretty easy to change. All it takes is a bit of experience. And then once you know how to do it, you never forget,” Jessie said with a laugh. He moved back and started to close up the open panel. “And that was all that it takes.”
“Great! So now you need to cut open this thing?” Terra said with a smirk.
“Yeah! We’ll be in that thing in a few moments once I start,” Jessie said as he put one of the last plates away.
Bryke looked at them and then he coughed. They all looked at him and he sighed. “Hey, I had a bad thought a moment ago. What if the thing, whatever it is, is on its side?”
Terra looked at Bryke for a moment, then slowly she looked around at the others. Jessie looked down, and then Zevortro blinked and then he chuckled.
“Well, that was something. And here I thought that we figured out everything about this,” Zevortro said with a soft look.
Bryke looked between them all, and he sighed. “None of us even thought about that possibility. And now what will we do if we open to a void?”
Jessie looked at the generator and then started to remove the plates. “I can fix this. All I need to do is modify the range. Maybe I can do this, or maybe? Yeah, I need to think. Terra, you can cut away with my rifle. This will be a while.”
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“Like that time the ship lost power or the time in the asteroid field?” Terra asked with a slight edge to her voice.
Bryke blinked at the question and then looked at Zevortro who only raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Terra and Jessie had a history. Maybe Terra was a former Transporter, it would be everything! He had to have repaired their ship, and that was how he learned to modify shield generators!
“Like the first. This might take me about thirty minutes or so. So I should…” Jessie began only for Terra to grab his back and pull him after her.
“Start after you eat. We need you ready to head down there if we can get this opened!” Terra said sternly.
As Jessie started to bicker with her, Bryke only chuckled and looked at Zevortro. He had to admit, that the way Jessie and Terra interacted was something to watch.
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Dalila
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As she looked around, Dalila tried to figure out how to do this. Last night, she and Vivian had been briefed by Terra about the worst case. How they might be sitting on an engine. She didn’t see how that might be possible. But then that was only if the ship was right side up. But then she would need to first find what the locale system was. How to try and hack into the structure or whatever beneath them, but at the same time try not to be too good. If they figured out what kind of nanites she had, then her plan was done. There would be nothing she would be able to do to get what she needed from Bradford. But there was a greater chance that if she didn’t use her A-Game, then she might fail.
“Having second thoughts about this?” Vivian asked softly as she leaned closer to Dalila.
Both of them were sitting away from the others as they ate. They both gazed at the shield generator that Jessie was working on. No matter what she did, the way he was working bothered Dalila, it seemed familiar.
“No, just how much to show. I mean if I do this wrong, then things could go bad. For everyone here,” Dalila said as she sipped from her bottle.
Vivian blinked and looked at her for a moment before she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, there is that. But then this whole situation is something that they never covered in our training. Sure didn’t expect this when I went on my hunt.”
“You gonna tell me what it was? Or are you going to stay silent?” Dalila asked with a smirk.
Vivian only giggled and looked away. Most people would think it was because of being embarrassed, but Dalila knew that tactic too. Look away, feel emotions, and then look back. A good way to keep from letting the enemy know they’ve hit a pressure point. And that was shocking for Dalila. What kind of hunt was Vivian after here? Just what data did she want from Bradford?
“Not yet, if I have to I will. But for now, I’ll keep my cards close to my chest. So don’t ask, alright?” Vivian asked and with a soft voice.
If Dalila was anyone else, the act would have worked. But female Hunters were trained to use everything that they had to win. From Honeytapping to acting, female Hunters used all they had. And that was ‘Acting 103’ from the Guildhall.
Most Hunters knew enough that they could trust the others, but there was something about Vivian. The nature of her hunt had to be private, and that might be a problem. If she felt strongly about keeping it quiet, then she had no reason to fight. As long as she could live and in the end, Dalila could get her data, that was enough for her. All she needed to do now, was keep walking forward. No matter what happened, she just had to keep moving.
With a sigh, Dalila ate the last of her food. With a sigh, she saw one of the trays had been set up as a small dumpster. “I’ll go and drop mine and look over the tablet they gave me. I have most of my Apps on me thankfully.”
“Yeah,” Vivian said with a sigh.
As she walked away, she looked around at the others. They were all finishing up their meals, and they most were looking inwards at something. Looking up, she saw that Terra had a rifle in her hands. As Dalila watched, Terra’s riffle suddenly ‘grew’ an energy bayonet. As she gazed in awe, Terra started to cut into the plates.
As the sound of metal being cut was heard, Dalila swallowed. If Terra was doing that, then the time for her to act was coming. And that meant that she had work to do.
Dropping off her trash, Dalila went to work. The tablet wasn’t too bad. Not bad for a civilian mode, and the few Apps she had would let her get into anything! She almost couldn’t wait for a chance to try her skills against whatever was down there. It was going to be fun!
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????????????
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As it felt its systems slowly come back online, the intelligence came back to 'awareness'. It took stock of its sensors, trying to find the source of the alert. The external ones were still buried after the last time it checked. The damage to its hull was still there in all sectors, and it could register movement in some of the sections.
All the defensive lines were holding, and what forces it had were still there. The repair functions and the few resource collectors it had set up seemed to still be working. Looking at its atomic clock, it felt a strange emotion as it took in how much time had passed. Then to try and find something else to think about, it selected the resource collectors. The gatherers were just to let it collect the few remains of the resource beasts. They were executed to only leave go a few months, but they had lost years! Looking at the gather’s programming, it saw some of the had evolved. Those that did ordered the others around, and they modified them and others.
Looking over the modifications, it was lost. It looked at the reports each one had. What the little things had done was amazing! But then it noticed the real reason that it had woken up. There was damage being done to its hull, along what was now its top. The damage was slow, and it was unlike any weapon that had ever been fired at it. The area where it was happening was also small, it had no idea what it was.
After a few micro-seconds of thought, it suddenly understood. Then it went to defensive operations. The few drones it had to send were already moving. It expected that the boarders would make it in before they got there. But its forces were stronger than it had ever thought. It was ready for whatever forces this terrible location sent after it. Its crew had died, but it would follow the last command of its captain and protect.
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Terra
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As she moved the rifle into the last part of the square, Terra smiled. She hadn’t thought that it would be this easy, but she was done. Now she just needed to wait for Jessie to be done with the last modifications, and then they could get ready. They might have some trouble getting into this thing, but they were ready. She couldn’t see anything that might stop them now. All in all, she could say they were ready to find out what this was.