Nomi Yanimura

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

Benner slowly made his way down the street away from the tavern, smiling slightly as he watched a couple of kids chasing each other across the street up ahead of him. They were carrying sticks and were pretending they were swords as that made the sound effects whenever one of them swung their 'blade' at the other. It was nice to see that there was still time for people to enjoy themselves. There was no danger here, nothing on the surface at least where the general population could see it. No, to them, the great wall that enclosed the entire city was keeping them safe from anything and everything that was lurking outside. Honestly, it was probably MORE dangerous inside the walls, but they didn't need to know that. The pilot just kept on walking slowly, glancing to his right when he heard a third kid pop out from behind some wooden storage crates and shoot at him with a toy blaster.
"Pow pow!!"
Ruce chuckled and played along, turning to face the kid and bringing a hand up to his chest where the kid had 'shot' at him.
"Argh! Oh no, yer got me, aaaah!"
The Captain crouched down and faked a cough, pretending to be dying when the kid looked shocked and ran out from behind the boxes up to the pilot, looking at him with concern.
"A-are you okay? I didn't mean to shoot you!"
"It's okay. I 'ave a healin' ray on my holo comm. 'ere, I'll fix myself up."
Ruce pulled his holo comm out and 'scanned' it over himself, making a whirring sound with his mouth as he did so, standing up straight afterwards and showing the kid he was all better. The kid laughed and clapped before turning around and running off to rejoin his friends.

The Captain chuckled to himself and watched as the kids vanished around a corner to keep playing their games, when Sky approached from the side, causing the brown-haired pilot to glance at his friend. Ruce placed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and pulled the heavy piece of clothing about himself, frowning as his friend as he started to slowly walk towards the docking tower again.
"Makin' friends again? I wonder 'ow long yer new friends are gonna piss themselves for? It's a shame tha' even in this part of the galaxy, there are shitheads who just wanna ruin the day of someone. Well, tha's a bit cruel. You technically count as one of those shitheads too."
Ruce grinned from over his shoulder as he peered towards his friend, listening to him as he asked his question about some guy named 'Fal'tok'. The name didn't ring any bells at the moment the question was asked. Ruce shrugged his shoulders and turned about to take the datapad off his friend, looking at the alien language that was on the display. He didn't say anything though about it, but was clearly able to read what was written. After a couple of minutes walking in silence, the scruffy pilot glanced back over his shoulder.
"We met two Grannok and four Urin about seven clicks east of 'ere, where we exchanged 'solar farmin' equipment' an' some other cargo with 'em. They used a shuttle to meet up an' the Zephyr was in orbit pretty much directly overhead. I wasn't able to perform a detailed enough scan to see if they had their weapons pointed at us. I took the Valkyrie to the air an' brought her straight 'ere when I discovered the Zephyr."
Ruce turned about and started to walk backwards a short distance as he glanced at Sky and brought his arms up, interlocking his fingers behind his head where he leaned his head back into his hands.
"Whether this 'Fal'tok' was one of the Grannok, I dunno. I can't see any reason why he'd try an' off me anyway. Hm... Well, I did make him cough up four times the agreed upon amount for the cargo... Whatever was in those crates, he was willing to pay up without a fight to get them."

The Captain of the Valkyrie turned back around and made his way to the turbolift that would take him back to the docking tower were his ship was. Pressing the button to call the lift, Ruce glanced back at Sky and frowned.
"I've had a bad feelin' in my gut ever since I docked 'ere. It's part of the terms an' conditions, NOT to check the cargo I'm deliverin'. Money tends to be good, an' tha's usually because I'm smugglin' illegal cargo over what is actually written in the job descriptions. I would take combat missions and bounty huntin' missions, but I'd never forgive myself if I was responsible for hurtin' Tes in any way, plus as couriers, we get to see parts of the galaxy we've only seen in holovideos."
The sound of the lift reaching the ground level caused the pilot to turn around and step into the lift as the automatic doors slid open. Waiting for Sky to get in, he pressed the button for the floor where the Valkyrie was and held onto the handrail as the lift took off, quickly gaining speed as it rocketed up towards the more high-tech and upper class city levels above. Ruce tapped his fingers against the metallic handrail and pondered for a second as he glanced back at Sky, tilting his head at him a fraction.
"Mind you, I did see Tes speakin' with one of the Grannok after we received payment, but the audio was out so I dunno wha' they said. The Grannok looked suspicious though, but why'd he send a mercenary after me if he was upset with Tes? Honestly, I ain't got a clue an' I'm actually worried I've got myself an' Tes involved in somethin' serious. We can't run away. It'll be too suspicious an' they're bound to send the Zephyr after us. We can't outrun a ship like tha'! I doubt even the Royale could. Best chance we'd 'ave of gettin' away would be to hyperjump to another planet an' drop out of hypercruise when we're inside the planet's atmosphere to avoid showin' up on long range scanners. But do yer know how difficult an' dangerous such a maneuver is?"
Ruce grumbled and complained as the turbolift doors slid open to reveal the Valkyrie sitting on her landing pad. The pilot's face lit up immediately and he walked out of the turbolift and over towards his ship with arms spread wide, as if he were about to give the ship a big hug. Actually, that's precisely what he did, walking up to one of the landing gears and wrapping his arms about it as best he could.
"Hey gorgeous! Daddy's 'ome!"

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

Weapons and armour had been purchased and they'd all be on their way to the docking tower within the next hour or two, which means that the brown-haired pilot had to conclude his business here and start making his way back to his ship. There was still the matter of the mercenary on the far side of the tavern though that was giving the Captain cause for concern. He didn't look himself, only managing to catch a glimpse in the black eyes of the alien bartender whenever he walked past to serve more customers. Sky glanced over though and confirmed the pilot's thoughts; there was someone there and they seemed rather interested in the Captain of the Valkyrie. Thankfully, according to Sky's description, whoever sent this guy, picked the wrong man for the job. On second thought, what was to say there was not a toxin or poison in the air right now? The most likely answer to that would be because the mercenary wasn't paid to murder a tavern full of innocents or perhaps that wasn't how this guy worked. Either way, the scruffy pilot had to act first.
"Well so long as the Royale has hard points tha' can retract into the hull, the size shouldn't really effect the efficiency of yer cloakin' device. Yer gotta take care though tha' weapons are heavy an' their mass will reduce the range of how far yer ship can jump an' effect it's overall agility. So, if yer not one for gettin' into a good ol' fashioned dogfight with another craft, better to strength ya shields and ditch weapons for a more maneuverable ship. Just be aware tha' shields can leave a detectable trace if they're high powered on a small craft. Get a shield generator tha's of appropriate size. No point 'avin' a shield built for a battleship on a frigate. It'd drain system power instantly an' leave ya open for a good 'ard thrashin'."

As Ruce spoke, the pilot disconnected his holo communicator from his datapad and tucked both devices back where they belonged. He tapped his right hand fingers on the bartop a couple of times as he watched a waitress of the tavern make her way behind him, carrying a metal serving tray with her. It was empty and it looked like she was returning to the bar to pick up more drinks for the patrons. It seemed that the chubby mercenary on the far side of the tavern was thinking the same thing, for as soon as the waitress was clear, Ruce sprang to his feet, his right hand gripping the handle of his long bladed dagger and pulling it from it's holster, where as his left hand zipped up and snatched the serving try from the waitress. By the time Ruce span about to face the mercenary, he was already on his feet with a surgical injector in hand, modified to shoot poison needles at range. The weapon was silent as it fired a dart towards the pilot, who used the serving tray to deflect the dart down into the ground, hearing a wooden 'thunk' it as jammed into the floor. Using the momentum of his rise and spin to his advantage, Ruce brought his right arm up and let his dagger fly, watching as it flipped through towards the mercenary, homing in on him like a missile locked onto a ship. There was a sharp cry from the chubby alien as the dagger sunk deep into the creature's left shoulder, pinning him back against the seat he had rose from. He managed to get another shot off though, his right hand holding the injector. Like before, Ruce counter this dart with the serving tray, deflecting it down into the ground before he tossed the tray like a frisbee, a loud metallic 'clank' echoing the tavern as the tray smacked against the mercenary's forehead, putting him out for the count.

It was over in seconds, but Ruce placed his hands onto his knees and buckled over slightly as if he had just run a marathon. That was one of the longest experienced he had ever... well, experienced. As the shocked partons scuttled away from the scene, Ruce took a few deep breaths before pushing himself back upright. He walked over to the unconcious mercenary and retrieved his dagger, wiping the dark green blood off on the alien's attire.
"Well now, tha' was excitin'."
Sliding the dagger into his holster, the Captain rummaged through the alien's belongings and pulled out a credit chit from one pocket and a datapad from the another. Tucking the datapad into his cargo pants pocket, he walked back to the bar and glanced down at whatever concoction was within the darts, seeing it eating it's way slowly through the floorboards. As he approached the bar, Benner tossed the credit chit onto the counter and bowed his head a fraction to the barkeep.
"Sorry about tha'... Thanks for the drink though."
Turning away, Ruce grabbed his jacket from the stool he was sitting on and made his way down the flight of stairs to the lower floor where the exit was.
"C'mon Sky, we ought get outta 'ere. If there's one, then there's gonna be more somewhere."
Pushing his way back outside into the sunset that was now covering Moni Vortau, Ruce looked either way down the street and frowned as life out here seemed to be going on as normal. Turning away from the tavern, the pilot slowly started to make his way back towards the Valkyrie, slow enough that Sky would spot him and be able to catch up should he leave the tavern also.

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

The Captain of the Valkyrie glanced at his empty drinking glass and wrinkled his nose at the thought of ordering another one. Whatever what stuff was, it was pretty potent and if the pilot wanted to do some work on the Valkyrie later today, he'd need to stay sober. He broke the ship enough as it is getting through atmosphere and leaving the meeting with the Expanse so he'd not want to bodge a hull repair and end up turning the Valkyrie into a vacuum when in outer space. Tes wouldn't ever forgive him for that. Still, the thought of what happened with the Expanse earlier today continued to leave a sour taste in the pilot's mouth... Unless that was an aftereffect of the alcohol he just drank? Either way, now that the hull had been paid for, it might not be a bad shout getting some weapons on the old girl. The young man lazily slapped a hand onto his datapad and dragged the metallic object across the wooden bar top, causing a scratching sound to come from the device as it moved. Nagivating his tabs to find his credit balance, the Captain frowned in depression as he noticed the lowly figure of 12,000 credits of his own personal funds remaining.
Shit... Okay we need to find some more work an' sharpish... it wouldn't 'ave been so bad to 'ave 20k in hand without needin' to spend the lot on repairs... Well, I ain't spent any of it. I gave the lot to Tes.
The brown-haired pilot grumbled something under his breath as he tucked a hand into one of his cargo pant pockets and pulled out a small holo communicator, which he placed besides the datapad and watched as holographic 'wires' and 'connections' spread between the two devices, syncing them together.

"No one says no to Alexia because no one has the balls to do so. I'd tell her 'no' an' to sod off if she asked somethin' ridiculous of me. Mind yer, I think she knows my limits an' wha' I'm capable of, so she'd know where to draw the line. Maybe. Doesn't matter. Ruce Benner is his own master an' he carves his own path!"
He said proudly towards the end, sitting up straight and sticking out his chest, trying to look intimidating. He exhaled with a sigh and slumped back down over his datapad and holo communicator. Tapping a few buttons, a holographic image of the Valkyrie appeared hovering over the communicator, slowly rotating. She looked in much better shape here then she did in real life. Probably because the holographic image was transparent with blue lines, not solid and rusty and dirty. Bringing his right hand up, the Captain 'gripped' the Valkyrie and span her around so she was facing the pilot, where he leaned in closer and glanced at the weapon hard points located either side of the bridge canopy.
"Huh? This old girl supports Grade 3 weapons? Who'd have thought a tiny ship like her could pack such firepower!"
Ruce span the ship around again to see her rear and squinted at the railgun on her tail. Selecting it, the information given proved next to useless. The thing was broken and probably rusted in place, but Tes said she was going to get it fixed and having a Grade 3 Railgun on a ship like this would cause devastating damage... if it were working. Therefore, the Captain left it alone and went back to examining the front hard points.
"Back in the U.P.M.O.H.A Academy, we used to use lasers when we went on combat missions. Ate through shields like a plasma cutter through flesh, but they drain a heck of a lot of system power an' did fuck all damage to hull an' armour plating, especially on the larger ships."
Glancing at his datapad and selecting a weapon specialist store, the pilot dragged a 400mm Tri-barrel Repeating Carbine Autocannon onto the Valkyrie and watched as the holographic image gained a pair of large miniguns on the front. Ruce glanced at Sky and smirked confidently at him.
"I always preferred ballistic weapons; they used little systems power to fire and could chew through armour without any trouble, even shields with the right ammunition. They also don't have limited range like lasers. Also, THESE bad boys, 400mm!! They'd cause damage even to the Zephyr if we caught her with her shields down!"

The brown-haired pilot then frowned and placed his left elbow onto the bartop, resting his chin in his hand as he drummed the fingers of his right hand against the wooden bar surface. He wondered what Tes would think if he put weapons onto their home. Would it make them a bigger target? Did she feel the same way as he did where, after their dodgy meeting with the Expanse, that some defenses were required? They did have the rear-mounted railgun, but the only trouble with that was they'd need the enemy to be behind them in order to fire it, and if the enemy was behind them, you could bet your ass that they'd have their weapons locked onto you, and Ruce didn't like that idea what-so-ever. There was something else bothering the pilot, and it seemed to be coming from within the tavern itself. There seemed to be a pair of eyes on the Captain and that they had been for some time now. Before he got distracted with this though, Ruce made a decision to purchase a pair of 400mm Tri-barrel Repeating Carbine Autocannons and have them deliver to the loading bay the Valkyrie was in. She was his ship at the end of the day and he didn't want to risk getting into an encounter with the Expanse and not have any claws to fight back with. He'd deal with Tes later on if she had problems. It would be 8,000 credits well spent, just you wait and see!
"Sky..."
Ruce leaned into the mercenary ever so slightly and lowered his voice a fraction.
"In the far corner, 4 o'clock from us, I feel a pair of eyes on us. Can you see anything?"

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

Let's all be upset at everyone and no one at the same time! >:D

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

The light banter within the tavern had returned to normal after it came clear that the pilot and the mercenary weren't about to start a fight with each other. It was nothing like being in a tavern or a pub or anywhere with just a bunch of humans. There were all kinds of different languages being spoke, some whistles, others clicks and snaps and other just plain nonsense. To think that there was such a wide variety of languages spoken just on Earth, but as soon as the first spacecraft capable of light speed was created, the language scale exploded outwards. It was always fun trying to learn a new language too, though Ruce was more capable of understanding the alien languages over actually speaking them. He didn't have enough mouths or tentacles or vibrating pouches or tongues or whatever else was required to speak half of them. 'English' as it was known on Earth had been converted to Galactic Standard and nearly all races and spices were able to understand it. The scruffy pilot tilted his head as he wondered how many other languages were out there. He doubted that the whole of the Milky Way galaxy had been explored yet. It was a pretty damn big place.

"I'll 'ave yer know yer belligerent, dysfunctional space slug, tha' the Valkyrie is fuckin' PRICELESS! Yer 'ear me?! PRICELESS!! I'd never trade her in for anythin', not even if Alexia herself shot yer ass out an airlock an' begged me for my 'and in marriage. I'd just as quickly shoot her out the airlock as she did you, over givin' up the Valkyire! Sure, she might not be the next Zephyr, but yer won't find a faster ship with a more dedicated crew!!"
Astonishingly, Ruce didn't get up from his seat as he shot back at Sky for talking about his ship. She really was very special to him and that made him think a little about the way Tes hammered at him earlier for punching through the atmosphere of this planet the way he did upon arrival. She was old and wan't even being manufactured anymore. Once she was destroyed, that was it. She'd be gone forever. Tes really did love that ship as well, mostly because she was the one who managed to keep her space worthy. Ruce grinned inwardly as he could picture the blue-haired woman telling the ship 'she was home' and asking 'did you miss me?' right about now. Sky's next sentence about payment made the pilot glance over to his old friend and he raised an eyebrow at him.
"Payment huh? I wonder wha' poor fool met their end this time? Pirate leader? A corrupt businessman? An entire bandit gang?"
Ruce chuckled and then sighed, shaking his head from side to side a couple of times as he peered down at his drink, taking hold of the glass in his right hand and swirling the red liquor within a few times.
"Guess my line of work isn't tha' much better. While I ain't personally pullin' the trigger, sometimes I know I'm deliverin' somethin' to someone who will pull the trigger."
Ruce slapped the bartop with his left hand though and brought his drink up to his lips, downing the rest of the liquor which caused him to pull a face and let a gasp out of his mouth.
"Ah well, c'est la vie."

As the pilot's datapad lit up once more, another message off Tes, the brown-haired Captain picked up the device and looked her words over, rolling his eyes at her message.
"Tha' woman, doesn't know 'ow to 'ave any fun. It's always work-work-work. Okay, sure, so I broke the ship a little gettin' to an' from our meetin' with the Expanse, an' I'm aware of this, but she doesn't 'ave to act like my fuckin' mother about it all the time."
Ruce glanced at Sky and smirked.
"I suppose Alexia is much the same; 'Oh Sky, wash yer 'ands after slittin' those pirates throats! Oh an' don't forget to bring some eggs home! I'm bakin' a cake!' Bahaha!!"
The scruffy pilot laughed at his own impression of Alexia and he patted Sky on the shoulder a couple of times. It was all fun and games. Sky knew he'd never deliberately go out of his way to offend him or his wife, but Ruce glanced at his friend and grinned.
"How is Alexia anyway? Hope she's doin' well. Say 'hi' to her for me. You know how cranky she gets when I can't stop by and give her a nice big hug."
The Captain of the Valkyrie went back to his datapad and continued to browse through some shops, finally stumbling across a place that stocked shield generators and armoured hull. Tapping on his pad a few times, he navigated his way to the hull section of the store and browsed what was in stock.
Hmm... How thick is the Valkryie's armour? 100mm, 150mm or 200mm? Anythin' thicker then tha' is for Destroyers and bigger...
Ruce closed his eyes and recalled the time he jumped up to inspect the breached hull a while back, seeing the image in his mind.
Yeah, tha's 150mm. Okay cool... now wha' type of armour? Reinforced steel, reinforced rolled tungsten, or reinforced titanium? The tungsten is the most expensive... 6000 credits. Steel is only 1500...

"Yer never were the settlin' down type, Sky. Yer always gotta be doin' somethin'. I'm honestly surprised you got married in the first place."
The Captain replied to his friend, though keeping his eyes on his datapad and continuing to tap around and browse the stocks of the shops. He was fully listening to his comrade though, despite not looking at him. Ruce did glance up though and frowned at the young man beside him though, wondering to himself why he did keep doing this mercenary work. Was he trying to prove something? Was he trying to get stronger? Did he have a purpose or did he just enjoy the slaughter? Well so long as no one stuck a bounty on Ruce's head that was tasty enough to entice Sky to come after him. He didn't mind kicking Sky's ass and showing him who's boss, but he hoped it didn't come down to that. They were friends after all. The pilot shook his head from side to side and laughed at Sky's comment about the Zantu Expanse.
"Tha's common fuckin' knowledge Sky. EVERY big corporation are sellin' weapons an' supplies to most known terrorist groups. Even Alexia does I bet. Yer allies are terrorists to yer enemies. Allies of the U.P.M.O.H.A will be terrorists to the Zantu Expanse an' the other corporations an' factions across the galaxy. There's nothin' anyone can do about tha'."
Ruce looked back down to his datapad and finally got around to purchasing a shipment of 150mm Reinforced Titanium armoured hull. When asked for a delivery point, the Captain input the docking tower in which the Valkyrie was landed at. Being given a delivery time of a couple hours, the Captain nodded to himself and finally felt like he could relax a little.

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

There seemed to be funny little stars and flashing lights dancing before the pilot's eyes as he stared at the tavern ceiling while laying on his back. It was only after he blinked his eyes a couple of times did they go away. He swallowed and coughed a couple of times. There was a sweet yet spicy taste on his tongue and he could still feel the heat of the beverage he drank warming his throat and stomach. He had known that something like this would happen as soon as he took a drink, but it only knocked him on his ass because of how distracted he was with posting his recruitment notice on the local network frequencies. There was chatter coming from the bar, a couple of humans glancing over at the Captain as he remained laying on the floor for a little longer. There's words were whispered and hushed though so it wasn't clear what they were saying, but it would most likely have been along the lines of how 'he couldn't take their drink'. Ruce didn't care what they said. He could handle his drinks... usually. The more Earthen drinks anyway. These alien 'drinks' could have come from anywhere.

The Captain shuddered at the thought and was about to start hauling himself back up to his feet when a shadow was cast over him. Someone was leaning over him and looking down and the scruffy pilot didn't need to see their face to know who it was from the tone of their voice.
"Oh this is all I fuckin' need..."
Benner rolled onto his right hand side and flopped over onto his stomach, where he frowned heavily at the young man's next set of words, where upon Ruce pushed himself up onto his feet and stuck a pointing finger in Sky's face.
"Har har, Sky's got his sense of humour out today! Oh we're all in fuckin' trouble now!"
The young brown-haired pilot took his brown leather jacket off and slung it over the stool he was sitting on, revealing the tight fitting long sleeved black shirt he wore. Rolling up his sleeves, you'd see from the pilot's arms that he had some muscle on him. Not a body-building beefcake by any means, for his arms were slender but toned. After dusting himself off, mainly the backs of his legs and butt, Ruce frowned back at Sky and returned the same pointed finger back into his face, almost growling as he spoke.
"Yer don't 'ave to brag to me about 'ow much yer like bein' on bottom. I've seen those videos y'know, an' I know Alexia is the man in yer relationship."
A buzz from the bartop caught the pilot's attention and he glanced over his shoulder to see his datapad had received a message, but he turned back to the man before him for the time being, placing his hands on his hips and looking Sky up and down carefully.

"Huh, yer grown taller. Anyway, wha' brings a no good, backwater, menopause sell-sword like yer to Moni Vortau? Isn't this place too clean an' posh for yer? Oh wait, yer 'eard I was stoppin' buy an' yer came to see yer ol' buddy? Aww, tha's sweet. Alexia would be so proud to 'ear her baby boy is finally startin' to interact with people, without cuttin' 'em in half for once."
Ruce chuckled heartily and slapped Sky hard on his upper right arm, as was his usual way of greeting the mercenary. Turning about and sitting on top his jacket, the pilot picked up his datapad and glanced at the message he received, oddly enough from Tes. He grinned at her words and tossed the datapad back onto the bar top, picking up his glass and this time, taking a more careful sip of the deep red liquor, feeling it heat him up nicely as it slid down. Ruce inhaled through clenched teeth, making a hissing sound as he felt the effect of the beverage wash over him before fading away. Turning to Sky, the Captain brought his hand up and offered the mercenary a taste.
"Try this yer lethargic, pessimistic bastard. It'll put some hair on yer chest. Maybe on yer eyeballs too!"
The scruffy pilot swizzled his stool back around so he were facing the bar again and he dragged his datapad closer to him. Logging into the city's local merchandise network, Ruce browsed some of the shops in the local area, mostly ship outfitting and and equipment stalls. The sooner he got the order of some new armoured hull plates out the way, the sooner he could get back to his drink and his surprise guest.

"Hey Sky, 'ow long yer been workin' in the mercenary business now?"
The Captain asked genuinely as he glanced over a ship outfitting store, mostly selling munitions and other weapon modules. There wasn't anything too particularly fancy; mostly autocannons, missile launches and mining lasers and even then these weren't high end. Grade 2 at best, maybe 3 if you were really lucky.
There are some forward facin' weapon mounts on the Valkyrie... I wonder if whatever is housed their is as broken as the rear railgun? After the run in with the Expanse earlier... I got this gut feelin' tha' the Valkyrie is gonna need some workin', reliable firepower...
Putting that thought on hold, Benner decided it'll be better to get the hull patched up first, then he could think more about getting some weapons. As he continued to browse the shops on his handheld datapad, the Captain glanced back over to Sky and frowned at him, turning his head his way a moment later.
"Yer up to date with all the bigger corporations, right? Wha's the true reason behind the Zantu Expanse brinin' the Hundu Zephyr all the way out 'ere? I highly doubt they're 'ere just to recruit new employees."

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

As the Captain and his engineer made their way towards the cargo bay, passing through bulkheads and walking down corridors, the scruffy pilot pondered Tes' question about all the secrecy with the Expanse. She made a valid point about why the Grannoks wanted to meet on the surface over having the Valkyrie dock with the Zephyr. There could have been any manner of reasons. Ruce glanced over his shoulder as he passed through a bulkhead, peering at Tes for a moment as he continued to walk down the corridor.
"Who can say? Perhaps the Zephyr already has business 'ere? Maybe they're currently bein' watched by competitors an' they 'appened to 'ave a shuttle with a cloakin' device fitted they could use to slip past the radar and scanners? If they are bein' watched, then why would they let a decommissioned U.P.M.O.H.A Frigate to dock with 'em? I ain't got a clue wha' was in those boxes. The one I opened had farmin' equipment in. We can only 'ope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."
Ruce answered the young woman as they entered the cargo bay. As Tes flipped over the railing and slid down the ladder, Benner perched himself against the railings and rest his elbows upon the handrail, loosing himself in his thoughts for a moment as he ran questions through his mind. The voice of his crew member snapped his back to reality though, where he glanced down at her with a subtle bewildered expression.

"Huh? D.T? Err..."
Ruce glanced about the cargo bay slowly and soon peered back down at Tes on the lower floor.
"Yer got three days of D.T, though I may cut it short if anythin' worth our while pops up, so keep ya IMP to hand."
The brown-haired pilot vaulted over the railings and slid down the ladder after Tes where he walked over to the rear cargo bay doors, glancing up at them and squinting at the hydraulics holding them closed. Yeah even he could see from here that they were worn down something fierce. Folding his arms across his chest and tapping the toes of his right foot against the floor a few times, the pilot turned and made his way over towards the small access lift in the corner of the cargo bay. Opening the door and getting inside, he hit the switch and waited as the access lift lowered him down out of the cargo bay and down on the landing pad. Walking underneath the Valkyrie, he had enough height to jump a couple feet into the air before he bonked his head on the underside of the hull, so he could comfortable walk upright without issue. He made his way across to the back right landing gear and looked up to see that there was indeed a breach there, about 2 feet across. Shouldn't take too much effort to fix. Flexing his knees, he jumped up and grabbed on the edge of the breach, where he pulled himself up and glanced around inside.
I wonder wha' caused this? Hm, just need some replacement armoured hull an' we'll be golden.

Dropping back down and dusting his hands off, the Captain turned about and walked over towards the customs office, leaving the Valkyrie behind. She'd be safe docked in a tower. Passing through customs and security without issue, the scruffy pilot took a turbolift down to the surface and watched through the perspex glass as other ships and speeders zipped through the sky, carrying cargo and passengers to wherever their destinations took them. It made the young man smile. The sights and sounds of a city like Moni Vortau were almost as incredible as the sounds the Valkyrie made.
I got three days to fix the Valkyrie. Wha' I need to do right now, is have a drink.
As the turbolift reached the surface, the pilot stepped out and took in a nice deep breath of the air here. Oh it was glorious. There was the smell of fresh cooked food! None of this rubbish processed crap that came in pills or tablet form, the whole 'everything you need in a pill' bullshit. No, this was proper food! A well cooked steak or a nice greasy burger and fries! Peering off to his right, the huge city was could be seen towering up into the sky. It must have been nice to the city folk, growing up and living within that thing, keeping all the nasty creatures and wildlife out. To Ruce, it felt like the iron bars of a prison, and believe him, he'd been on the wrong side of those a few times. Making his way past aliens of all kinds of races and species, Benner came across a tavern and he stepped inside.


It was nice inside, with wooden decking covering the floor and chairs and tables made from wood also. The bar was made from matching materials, behind which a green-skinned alien with black bulging eyes served drinks, some frothing and others with creatures squirming about inside. The large room was set up in three layers. The entrance was on the lowest floor with a set of stairs leading up to the main drinking area, with a third higher level having windows, allowing one to look out across a large square where various merchants had peddler stalls and children could be seen playing in the streets. Hopping up the stairs to the bar, Ruce plonked himself down on a stool and peered at the drinks on the shelve behind the green skinned alien.
"Fem omleng lolennhil sve."
Ruce scratched his chin, which reminded him about needing to shave at some point, but he quickly focused back on the alien before pointing at a bottle of deep red liquid.
"I'll 'ave a glass of tha'."
"Ul gjagter."
"Yes I'm sure. I know wha' it is."
As the alien turned about to prepare the drink, the scruffy pilot pulled his datapad out of his jacket pocket and synced into the local transmission frequency to check up on news and announcements. Interestingly enough, there was an article about the Hundu Zephyr being here for some kinda of parade. Seemed the Zantu Expande were recruiting and they had come to this system with one of their prized and most famous ships to aid in their recruitment process. As the green alien gently placed the Captain's drink down before him, the pilot glanced at the alien and waved a hand to get it's attention.
"Yer know if the Expanse 'ave had any luck recruitin' 'ere?"
"Manlurtle jådalismatnugral ulkat si tylltrorsilmarmarne jervnolstedmegtsin vøkttolvaeg."
"Really? How interestin'... Thank yer."

The brown-haired pilot began tapping away at his datapad and soon enough, he had finished writing up his own little recruitment article. His and Tes' little run-in with the Grannok's earlier and got the Captain wondering, and perhaps it was about time to get a few new hands on board the Valkyrie. He had a bad feeling in his gut that this wasn't the last time they'd be seeing the Grannok's or the Expanse or the Zephyr.

!!Crew Members Wanted!!
Tired of living on a planet? Longing to get out there among the stars? Want to earn credits for simple cargo deliveries?
Then look no further!! Captain Ruce Benner of the Valkyrie is looking for able bodied individuals willing to work hard and to strict deadlines. Living quarters will be provided. No uniform required, but please wear something because my chief engineer might kill you if you walk around naked. Must be willing to follow orders without question... to some degree. Tes doesn't half the time and it'd be nice if I had SOME authority on my own ship... Anyway, straying off topic. If interested, please leave me a holo message (or just a normal message) on this frequency and I'll be in touch soon!
Fly Safe!
Captain Ruce Benner.

With a smug look spread across his face, the pilot plonked his datapad down onto the bartop and he took hold of his drink, taking a hearty swig with knocked him back off his stool and flat onto his back on the floor with a hefty thud.
"Phsssshaaaa!!! Oooooh!! Tha's some good shit!!!"

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

There was soft beeping and the gentle whirl of electronics that made up the sounds of the bridge while the ship was not in flight. It was rather relaxing to just sit here in silence and listen to the ambiance. The bridge wasn't that particularly big, but the ship itself wasn't all that massive; a mere speck of dust compared to the size of some of the other crafts out there. Ruce had been behind the helm of ships larger then this one back in his younger flight academy days when he were a pilot of the U.P.M.O.H.A. But those large lumbering ships weren't up to his tastes of style. The smaller fighters such as the frigates, assault ships and destroyers were considerably more fun to fly then the ships the size of entire cities. As such, the bridge of the Valkyrie housed three seats but most of the activity was performed at the pilot's seat. There were the same computer panels and consoles at the co-pilot seat, but Tes was more often then not elsewhere in the ship, fixing something or relaxing when off hours or doing her nails or whatever it is girls did.

Turning his chair around to look out the canopy windows, Ruce glanced down to the systems panel on his left and opened up the camera feed to the cargo hold, flicking through the available camera that were active enough he landed upon the one overlooking the rear cargo ramp. He blinked and leaned in closer to the display as he watched one of the Grannok's slowly making it's way up the ramp towards Tes. Flicking the audio switch on and off didn't make any difference so it was unclear what was between the pair, but whatever Tes had said, it caused the Grannok to turn about and head back down the ramp to the dirt below. Glancing through the rest of the available camera feeds, Ruce noticed the shuttle that the Grannok's and Urin had used to meet up with the Valkyrie.
Huh... Tha' means their ship is in orbit... Wonder if they got their guns pointin' at us? I suppose it'll be hard to land a larger ship in the middle of no where like this. Too much uneven terrain.
Ruce thought to himself as he glanced over to his navigation panel and glanced at what contacts were in the local vicinity. A city was several clicks off to the west and, as predicted, there was a large ship in orbit. Ruce's eyes widen as the standard scan he ran came through.
"Shit on a brick... Tha's the Hundu Zephyr! Wha' the heck's one of the Expanse's most infamous ships doin' 'ere? Wha' else 'ave they got us to smuggle 'ere?"

Approaching footsteps caused the captain to delete the scan results and twirl his chair around, eyes watching his engineer arrive on the bridge. He smiled at her and got up from his seat as he walked over to her, tucking his hand into his jacket pocket to pull out the credit chit. Holding it out for her to take, he nodded his head at her question.
"Everyone's happy. We got paid, the Expanse got wha'ever they wanted an' now we need to get the fuck out of 'ere because the fuckin' Hundu Zephyr is in orbit an' if yer said anythin' tha' might piss the Grannok's off, we can expect a shit ton of firepower to come down on top of out heads within the next thirty seconds."
Ruce span about and dove back into his chair where he span about and activated the main thrusters, causing the engines to power up. A loud rumble shook the ship as Ruce diverted power to the landing thrusters and lifted the old girl up into the air, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust underneath them. He didn't really care if the Grannok's were blown over from the sudden take off.
"Better hold onto somethin'!"
Bringing up the landing gear, Ruce span the Valkyrie about until she pointed west and put power to the main engine, causing a loud groan to shudder the ship as she blasted off across the arid plains below them. Glancing at his navigation panel, Ruce targeted the nearby city and made his way towards it, keeping the Valkyrie low and flying her fast.

Within a couple minutes, there didn't seem to be any orbital bombardment strikes and the city eventually came into view, causing Benner to cut power to the main engine, switching to impulse thrusters to slow the Valkyrie down and make a less suspicious approach. Peering at his communications panel, he hailed the nearest docking station.
"Moni Vortau City, Dockin' Tower 23-B, this is Captain Ruce Benner of the Valkyrie requestin' dockin' permission."
A snap and a buzz came through the ships speakers before a female voice replied.
Request acknowledged and granted, Captain. Proceed to docking bay 3, pad 2."
As the comms were cut, Ruce sat up and glanced out the main canopy window to watch as the arid plains below them started to sprout more vegetation with trees, shrubs and plants replacing the dry, brown landscape. The city wall was up ahead, keeping all matter of wildlife out. It was tall, an easy 100 meters in height with large automated cannons mounted to guard towers dotting the wall. The city itself was pretty high-tech, a very unlikely target of an orbital strike from the Hundu Zephyr. Tall skyscrapers full of various companies reached several hundred feet into the sky with skybridges connecting them all. Long highways rose high above the buildings below with automobiles hovering along them. The buildings beneath the highways weren't exactly the slums, per say, but they weren't as spectacular as the towering skyscrapers. These 'slums' though were often way more exciting then the posh places. Better food, better drink, better gambling, cheaper girls. These were also where the better workshops and merchants were found. The top end stores that sold only the best, were not what the Valkyrie needed. As such, Docking Tower 23-B was located near these 'slums' sitting beneath the highways.

Pulling the old ship up and over the city wall, Ruce flew the Valkyrie to the docking tower and gently sat her down upon landing pad 2, where the old girl came to a rest and the engines powered down. With a huff escaping the pilot's lips, he turned to his systems panel and glanced through all the modules on the ship.
"Break-collider coolant relay is fucked, engine has overheated due to the coolant leak on the bridge an' the coolant pipes need replacin', shields are down to 50% an' aren't increasin', rear mounted rail cannon has jammed, rear cargo door hydraulics are worn an' need re-pressurizing, the hyperdrive is offline an' apparently there's a hull breach near the back right landin' gear; maybe I hit somethin' when I took off earlier? Hopefully I crushed those Grannok tossers."
The Captain turned his chair about 180 degrees and glanced over towards Tes, shrugging his shoulders at her before pushing himself up to his feet and walking over towards the bulkhead door that led off the bridge.
"Anythin' yer need me to get or yer got all tha' covered?"

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

The scruffy-faced pilot looked at the two Grannok's carefully as they turned to each other and whispered amongst themselves, speaking in their own native language which pretty sounded like someone smashing two rocks against each other while pulling a large slab of concrete across the ground in the middle of an earthquake. The Captain was a dab hand at his interstellar languages though and he frowned as he picked up a few words such as 'pathetic' and 'waste of time'. Ruce scoffed and glanced to his right at Tes as she approached his side and he just grinned at her before returning his attention onto the party waiting a few feet from the bottom of the cargo ramp. Her little outburst was typical of her and it made the pilot chuckle to himself. It was always snotty-nosed, stuck-up businessmen who thought they were higher then everything else, that riled the mechanics skin. That and not getting paid, whether off clients or from himself. Ruce chimed in though before the large rocky humanoids were able to speak up.
"She's right yer know. This old girl has taken a few knocks on yer behalf and it's gonna cost us a pretty penny to get her back up to standards. We know yer busy men an' we know yer wanna get back to work, but I particularly know tha' yer business doesn't deal with farmin' equipment, especially the solar kind. S'not like yer startin' to turn environmentally friendly now, are ya?"
The Captain flicked his left thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the steel cargo crates sitting back in his ships hold.
"I'm guessin' yer ordered somethin' a little shady, a little somethin' from the Black Market, eh? S'why yer hired a pilot with a fast but small ship. Perhaps yer Urin friends 'ere 'ave got their annual bonuses. Those plasma rifles are old tech now right? They're NH Corporation Mk.III 65-A PR's right? Bet they won't even dent my jacket, let alone put a hole through my body. Wha' is the Zantu Expanse doin' buyin' tech tha' isn't their own?"

The Grannok was clearly getting more and more frustrated with each word that was coming out of Benner's mouth and soon enough, as if the rock-like creature were a volcano, he eventually blew. Stamping a foot down that kicked up a cloud of dust and swinging one of it's huge arms before him, the creature bellowed back.
"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH!!"
The businessman cleared his throat and adjusted his tie so it was back in place, before dusting himself off.
"You've proven your point. No need to make a scene, right?"
The Grannok glanced to the Urin to his right and nodded his head. The four-armed alien acknowledged in silence and stepped forth towards the scruffy pilot, who in turn walked the remaining way down the ramp to meet up. The Urin tucked one of it's arms into it's attire and pulled out a credit chit, which he handed to the pilot. Ruce glanced at the chit and then peered towards the Grannok, who were both staring back.
"Fifteen thousand, three times what we agr--"
"Twenty."
The Urin before the pilot raised it's rifle but was quickly silenced and told to back down by the Grannok doing the talking.
"Okay, twenty thousand."
The Grannok's gravely voice churned and ground against the air surrounding them all. He wasn't happy in the slightest, but really, what was 20,000 to someone like him? He would practically use that much just by going to the toilet! He was still getting his tech after all and, so long as it wasn't used to shoot the Captain in the back, he really didn't care who the Grannok or the Zantu Expanse started a war with.

As Ruce approached the two Grannok's, who were an easy seven feet tall, one of them pulled out a datapad from within it's suit and punched in a few commands before the cash was transferred onto the credit chit that the pilot held. Glancing down at the chit and tapped a few button, the balance read 20,000. Glancing over his shoulder, Benner set his eyes on Tes and stared at her for a second before he glanced back at the Grannok and nodded his head.
"Thank yer for choosin' to do business with us. If yer ever need anythin' else, be sure to get in touch. Perhaps next time, don't send us so far across the system if you want us back within the week."
The brown-haired pilot turned about and stomped his way up the cargo ramp to his engineer, who he revealed the credit chit to, displaying their income. He smiled and nodded his head as he tucked the chit into an inside pocket of his leather jacket before patting Tes on both her shoulders, gripping onto her softly and using his thumbs to massage her.
"Payment received. Would yer kindly give the Expanse their delivery now? An' don't frown. Yer get wrinkles an' I ain't havin' wrinkly girls on my ship."
Grinning at her, he removed his hands before she had chance to tear them off his body and he walked past her back inside the cargo hold, where he headed over to the ladder Tes had slid down earlier and climbed up them, disappearing through a bulkhead door and making his way back to the cockpit. Upon reaching there, the Captain grunted at the mess he had left behind from the coolant leak and he grabbed a mop from a nearby cupboard and tied up before his female engineer returned. He then plonked himself back in his chair and waited for Tes to catch up.

Valkyrie ~ Science Fiction Adventure ~ (Accepting Applications)

Soft clicks came from one of the steel storage crates as the Captain punched in a code to unlock the sliding lid, which he pushed open afterwards. Peering inside, he scanned his dark brown eyes over the farming equipment and photon decelerator units that the Zantu Expanse had asked to be delivered. What did they need stuff like this for anyway? Farming equipment especially. The photon decelerators he could understand, for the Zantu Expanse were one of the biggest and leading organizations of scientific enhancements and they liked to mess around with particles and atoms and who knew what else. Ruce didn't actually care though. So long as he got his payment for delivering this stuff. He'd hand over Tes' share and that would shut her up for the next few hours as she went off to buy new parts for the Valkyrie. Speaking of which, the pilot turned about and folded his arms across his chest, glancing up at Tes on the gantry.
"Wha' do you mean, 'another'?"
The brown-haired Captain glanced at his right shoulder from the corner of his eye and brushed away some white coolant dust from his jacket.
"This old girl is on her last legs. Things are gonna fall apart an' break when we least expect them too. As for the Zantu Expanse, let the stupid, fat corporate tossers wait a little longer. It's not like those suited idiots need solar farmin' equipment of all things. If anythin', WE could use crap like tha' to actually keep a stable electrical supply runnin' through the ship! There's nothing worse then havin' the lights go out when I'm on my way the bathroom an' I stand on one of your hair clips!!"

The Captain turned back to the cargo containers and he could be heard mumbling to himself.
"Well maybe you should put your boots on!"
He was clearly imitating Tes' voice as he continued to mumble.
"Well maybe you should shave the other side of your head!"
Sliding the cargo lid closed, Ruce was about to check up on a second container when his female and only other crew member called down to him from the gantry again, causing him to at first glance over his shoulder and look back up at her, but soon was forced to turn around fully and look back up with her with a disappointed expression spread across his face as she listed off things wrong with the ship that were apparently his fault.
"First, you just said yourself tha' the Expanse expect us at a certain time an' a certain place, which happens to be right here, right now, so tha's why I told you to bodge the collider-break coolant relay because otherwise, we'd be sittin' here with boxes of farmin' equipment no one wants and our thumbs up our asses! Also, we're 'ere an' the ship still flies, so I'd say your 'four hour bodge job' was a pretty damn good bodge job!"
Like a bird puffing up it's feathers when it felt threatened, Ruce took a strong stance and held his arms aside from his torso, as if he were trying to flex his muscles when looking at himself in the bathroom mirror.
"Secondly, who is the pilot? Tha's right, I am! I know how to fly this bird an' enterin' the gravity well of a planet this big at such a slow speed would 'ave put more pressure on the hull then I was comfortable with. I didn't want to risk blowin' the canopy or rupturin' the hull from this thing shakin' itself apart an' subsequently blastin' one or both of us into the atmosphere. Pushin' through at speed was the better approach!"

The pilot stood back up straight and pressed his fists against his hips, giving the young lady on the gantry a stern stare before he were about to point a finger and continue his retort, when Tes chucked something down to him, which fell into his waiting palm. Looking it over, it was a fuse cluster and it was bust. These things couldn't be repaired and had to be replaced instead. They were essentially like light bulbs and when the filament blew, you needed a new one.
"Well shit Tes, why didn't you say somethin' if this was on it's last legs? You pull this from the Hyperdrive Motivation module? How many we got left in there?"
His tone carried genuine concern upon viewing what his landing and busting through the atmosphere had caused. Still, better a fuse cluster then half the hull, right? Well the shields may have held together anyway... probably. Tossing the fuse cluster up and down a couple of times, the scruffy chinned pilot tucked the object into his jacket pocket and waved a hand to beckon his engineer down to the lower floor of the cargo hold.
"We still got a job to finish. Get down 'ere an' shift these containers onto a trolley or somethin' so it's ready for the Expanse to collect. I don't want those creeps settin' one foot on board this ship!"
Ruce turned tail and walked across the cargo hold, approaching the rear cargo entry ramp where he punched in a command into the console that caused a loud metallic creak as the mag locks holding the ramp closed released. Then the hiss of the hydraulics lowering down the ramp echoed through the room until daylight tore through the shadows and eventually cast a warm, welcoming glow across the whole cargo hold.

Making his way down the ramp, Ruce could see that Tes had been correct and the Zantu Expanse were already waiting for them. There were six of them in total, two were Grannoks, large humanoid creatures with rock-like skin dressed in their cultures suits and looked pretty terrifying in all honestly. You'd not wanna get into a fist fight with one of these lads. Or a drinking contest. Or anything really. They always looked like they were in bad moods, with their rocky faces having thick protruding brows giving them permanent frowns. The other 4 were Urin, also humanoid but clearly alien due to their blue skin, pupil-less eyes and four arms. These guys were guards and they were armed, each having a pulse rifle and stun battons. Looked like they were carrying grenades too, EMP at a glance.
"My friends!!"
Ruce bellowed out heartily and spread his arms as if welcoming an old friend.
"Cut the crap Benner. Just hand over our cargo and get lost. You've already wasted enough of our time."
Ruce's arms fell and his expression turned saddened.
"Aww, c'mon guys! Be coal. You guys work too hard, too much pressure you know? If you create a scene here, pebble are gonna stop an' stare. We've got your order, safe an' sound an' still in one piece! Tes is bringin' it out for you now, so just sit tight a little longer an' our business will be concluded."
The Grannoks didn't look to happy and glanced at each other for a moment, as if they just spoke telepathically or something. The Urin just remained standing in silence, their stareless eyes watching the pilot, keeping their weapons close. It was very hard to tell which way these aliens were looking, but Ruce could assume they were keeping a keen eye on that dagger in his holster. Yeah, because that dagger was really going to do some damage to a Grannok. Well, maybe if you stabbed one of them in their eye it might. Still, the Urin seemed to acknowledge this and thus is why they hadn't asked the Captain to disarm himself.