EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“To clarify, I do know that part.” Senjen replied. He was not sure if Bodach was serious about trying to blocade run by force, but for his own sanity, he was going to assume he wasn’t. In any case, he supposed it was encouraging that Major knew this much. It meant they were trusted enough that FGC kept them appraised before they set out.

“What I don’t have a lot of information on right now is the actual plan for acquiring that transponder.” Senjen clarified. “I know I need to steal it and why, but I’m not sure if FGC has any intel on this terminal so we can make a workable plan for me to sneak in. You know, the layout, where I need to go, that sort of thing. I have experience winging it, but all the same, I’d rather have a plan going in. If FGC doesn’t have anything, then I suppose we’re going to need to do the scouting ourselves.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Um, right…” Senjen said with a bit of hesitation, having not the slightest clue what Dairmuid and Bodach were talking about. He decided instead to focus on what Major was saying, since he was a fair bit more comprehensible. He joined the group, not exactly able to sit, but nevertheless gripping onto the floor with his foot.

“Sure, I’ll let you know if there’s anything to talk about. Everyone’s still settling in for now, though, so I doubt there’s been time for anyone to get into trouble.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. Anyways...I guess I’d say I’m nervous. FGC has been light on the details so far, but I know a good part of this depends on me doing this infiltration and getting what we need. Have you gotten any details on what I’m going to need to do?” Senjen asked.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“I’m just saying, it only really needs to decontaminate things going in and out of the ship, and only once we get there. I feel like that thing’s going to get real old if we don’t change its settings.” Senjen said, his gaze still following where the drone had went.

“But yeah…” Senjen was silent for a few seconds. He did not say anything about Ruk’s concerns with him getting caught. If something happened at that point, then she would be able to get away with Myrmidon never having known she was involved. The mission would not be able to proceed after that, so they would probably head back and the FGC would have to think up something new. For this to work, everything really was riding on him. For now, he tried not to think about that. “That’s probably a good idea. Let’s go see if we can find Major first.”

---

Fortunately, the mercenaries’ leader, Major, ended up being in the first place they looked: the storage room next door. He was not alone, as the two members of their group from Earth were with him. With Senjen and Ruk showing up, even their storage room could start to feel a bit crowded, so Senjen stayed hanging on to the wall near the entrance. “Hey, uh, you all settling in? Anything you’re going to be needing?” Senjen asked.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had a feeling that “together” would not involve too much of him when it came to research. Just knowing the basics enough to be able to talk about it was already a lot for him. He thought that Ruk might be more involved in the research, but maybe she was feeling more like he was in the moment. She did practice medicine, not research it.

Senjen waved his hand in the direction of the floating drone as it passed, as if swatting it away a fly. “We really should check that thing’s programming…” He muttered.

“I’ll just try to make sure to get you down there to begin with.” Senjen said, his tone not exactly hiding his worry. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to gather a bit more in the way of intel on how I’m going to sneak in to clear the way for our landing. But, I’ll be the only one at risk there, if I get caught.”

The silence between them lasted only a brief moment before Senjen quickly resolved to try and change the subject. “But, um...we have time until then. Are you sure you have everything you need to be comfortable?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen struggled to understand what Sepharim was saying. From the start, he was a lot less familiar with matters of disease than either of his companions here, and this one was strange even on top of that. He could tell that Sepharim was probably trying to explain it in simple terms for the uninitiated...namely himself, but he wondered if that did not just end up confusing him more.

“Okay, so...wait.” Senjen tried to collect together in his mind what he knew about organic bodies. . “Your code...that is, um, organics’ ‘code’ is DNA. That’s what gives your body the instructions to do everything it does, if I’m remembering. But, unlike machine code, DNA doesn’t change in a person’s life, right? It gets mixed around when you reproduce. If the holophage is changing the body of the hose, then does that mean it is editing DNA? Is that possible?”

Senjen took a look at Ruk for a moment. He could not see the Sthrirad and his body could not really interact with it, but he at least had some knowledge of what it did. “The Sthrirad changing your DNA was just...evolution, if it happened over many generations. This holophage sounds completely different, I think.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen attention was distracted for a moment when the drone activated and floated itself out of the room. He was pretty sure that one was just a cleaning drone and did not have much actual AI of its own. “You know, we might need to tweak that thing’s settings. We need it to decontaminate anything coming into the ship, not make the whole place spotless. It better not mess with my plants at any point…” He grumbled.

In any case, Seraphim had taken notice of them now. Senjen supposed it would be a good time to figure out what sort of AI she was, and where exactly she might lie on the sapience spectrum. He was looking as her strangely ornate frame, trying to figure out what model it was while they spoke. “Right, um, the Holophage…” Senjen started to speak, but as he actually started to think about what Seraphim was saying, it dawned on him how strange it really was. “Hold on, what exactly do you mean? When you say it doesn’t match, do you just mean that it’s a new disease, or an entire new type of disease?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen could not help but to agree, though he tried to be optimistic about the situation as best as he could. “I do wish I knew more about why FGC picked them in particular. At the very least, I guess it is in the FGC’s interest for this mission to go well, so...they probably believe that Major’s team will be a benefit. I think the one you might want to keep a respectful distance from is Omega. Apparently he experienced some trauma at some point and has some...issues. HOPE, the QV, seems to be able to calm him. Those two also seem like a duo.”

After a moment, Senjen cast his gaze over to the corner where Ruk’s suit had been tucked away. He looked it over, though there wasn’t really much for him to gain in doing so. To his eyes, it was...a suit. It looked like it would do its job to protect her, but he would have to inspect it in detail to see if there was anything wrong with it. “Your suit? It...well it looks functional. I obviously don’t have much need of an environment suit, so I don’t really know much about them. I probably know more about gel suits, honestly. As long as it can protect you from the virus, though, that’s what’s important. Whatever this holophage is, the last thing I would want would be for you to catch it. And maybe the markings will help you look the part as a medical researcher when we’re down on the planet?” He suggested, though after a few seconds, he chuckled. “Or, well...I guess it’s not really a ‘part’, is it? You literally are a doctor, and you’re researching the virus. We won’t necessarily have permission to do it, but, you know...details.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen pushed lightly off of the ceiling, allowing himself to rotate around slowly and grab on securely to the floor. He was pretty sure non-climber species tended to feel more comfortable with their surroundings in a “natural” orientation. He knew there was probably no way to make this whole trip “comfortable” for her, with how long it was going to be in a crowded space, but the little things could add up. At least she was not going to have to spend it all trapped inside a suit. QV might be comfortable with it, but that was about as far from nature as a Chekeri could be.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know too much, beyond some quick introductions.” Senjen replied with a tone reminiscent of a sigh. “I know the FGC hired them, in a manner of speaking. It’s more of a ‘we help them, they help us’ sort of arrangement. For their background, I mostly just know they’re meant to be good at their job, and we have to trust the judgment of FGC.”

Senjen pushed himself over a bit closer, stopping himself against the wall next to Ruk as if casually leaning against it. “Individually, Major is the one in charge of them: the one holding them together, it seems. I got the sense of him being...professional, I guess? I don’t really understand what he is, exactly. He said he’s synthetic now, whatever that means. The next two...ah, what were their names? Bodach and...Dairmuid. They’re from Earth, and they seem like a duo. I’d expect them to never be too far apart. Rex was polite, formal. But, well…” He started speaking a bit more softly. “Some AI kind of disturb me. The ones that aren’t really...people. Again, it might just be that he was being polite, but it can be hard to tell.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

It did not take more than a few hours into their journey before Senjen was back moving around the ship. After the others got settled in and while they were making their way into orbit, he had been lingering around in the cargo hold. They weren’t carrying much beyond their own supplies at the moment, but it was one of the only places that no one else had decided to take up in.

Once they were out of orbit and had started the jump into interstellar space, Senjen went pretty much straight for his quarters, where Ruknar would be staying. He floated in from the hall and found a spot on the ceiling to grab with one foot to anchor himself in place. He knew nearly every little protrusion in the cavern-like walls of the ship that he could grab to control his movement in zero-G, so he could move around quickly without so much as looking.

“Hey Ruk.” Senjen said, a bit softly. “Settling in alright? I know it’s not much, but out of all the places on the ship, I figured this was where you would be the most comfortable.” He said, with a quick glance around his half of the space. There was a dense, if not somewhat haphazard, arrangement of all sorts of decorative plants that he took care of. They were all genetically modified to be suited for space travel, so they were hardier than most natural flora. Flowering vines, grasses, shrubs; he had assembled an assortment with no particular theme or organization aside from “looking pretty”.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was practically running through the ship’s halls after he got Light’s message, though he slowed down before reaching the cargo hold so he could walk in more calmly. Ruk was the last one they were waiting on, along with this last AI she was in charge of shepherding around. Senjen got a good look at both once he made it to the hold. Seraphim was...unusually fancy. Given the nature of their mission, he had been expecting something more plain and unassuming. He supposed they were not planning on Seraphim being seen at all, but he also did not think they should plan on everything going right.

Ruk looked more how Senjen had been expecting. He felt like it was overkill to actually wear the suit to the ship, but nevertheless, he was glad she had it. In an ideal world, she would be armored and protected from any sort of threat, but if they had to choose, the disease was probably going to be more of a threat than anything else. QV suits served as environment suits on their own, so hopefully none of them would be at risk.

“Hey, Ruk, good to see you.” Senjen greeted her first and foremost, but he did not ignore Seraphim. “But um...yeah, you need a tour? It’s not that large of a ship, so it shouldn’t take long. I’ll help you both get settled in. You can take my quarters while we’re on route, Ruk. I don’t really need the space, so I can do without for a while.”