Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Check the cargo bay doors. Look for an external power source port; maybe we can use that fancy new power supply of yours to operate the mechanism.”

Light floated surreptitiously along the ship, examining a few of the modules. The joins between these modules were weaker than the walls, but there didn’t appear to be any obvious damage that they could exploit. Then he whirred off the ground and up onto the top of the ship.

“Eureka.” He said over comms.

In the centre of the ship at the top, the hull was breached in multiple places by some kind of explosion. This must be the handiwork of the reactor core, load shedding after a massive hit of radiation.

He edged closer and peered inside. It did appear to indeed be the ship’s primary power plant. The breaches weren’t big enough to fit through, but they could be widened. Light ejected the laser cutter from inside his suit and powered it up to begin cutting through.

“Multiple breaches top side. I should be able to make a hole we can fit through. Have you found anything, Senjen?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“I accept that.” Light bowed solemnly, seemingly in the zone for their upcoming endeavor. He had clipped a utility belt to the outside of his suit, but some of it still floated inside his suit with him. His suit was deliberately blocking his skin’s bright colours, so the others would have to rely on the translations his suit provided instead.

QV night vision was excellent and Light was no exception. Even on the dark side of this moon he could soon make out details of the craft as they approached. He looked for any signs of forced exit or entry but found none. The hull seemed mostly intact, though there was a lot of debris in the wake of the crash.

“Check, mic. No signs of EVA. Will you stop hating me if I carry you in my suit?” He turned 90 degrees to look at her while still progressing forward.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

After considering it carefully for a minute, Light brought them in gently to land in the crater nearby. It would provide a bit of protection and make the ship a little harder to spot.

“What? Time to put that infinite stamina to the test! I can bring it closer if we really need to.” He explained when he caught Senjen looking.

Once post-flight checks were complete and the ship was patiently ticking over ready for a getaway at any moment, Light set up a regular automated scan of the field around them and a dome of open space above. Any intrusion should ping his implant immediately.

He then gathered up his gear from the collection of lockers dotted around the ship. A pry bar, laser cutter, large scissors, that type of thing. Heading to the cargo hold, Light pulled his trusty BangStick out last before getting ready to open the doors to the vacuum.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

A technicolour kaleidoscope swept across Light’s skin as Jess pieced it all together. He bobbed and nodded furiously, actively listening to every sentence.

“Mhmm, yep, my thoughts exactly!” Light chirped, floating surreptitiously closer towards Jess until he was clasping her shoulders and lightly shaking her.

“There’s only one way to find out. Let's go see!” Light appeared oblivious to the worry in Jess’ voice. He flung himself at the controls and began the intensive process of scanning the planet’s surface.

It ended up only taking an hour or so. Light focused their sensory array on the ship to look for any signs of life. “Get ready, Senjen, this could be a rescue mission.” He asked simply.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Once he was sure the ship’s course was true and safe, Light turned his attention to the mammoth task of finding a dead ship in the vastness of space.

They’d had the good sense to ‘sniff’ the system ahead of them while travelling FTL. Light started by pulling up the dump of data and cross referencing it with what they were recording now. Eventually he made an intrigued noise, visualising a zoomed in vector around the pulsar through time on the cockpit’s holo. The accuracy of the data was questionable, but clearly enough he had isolated a sudden and massive burst of radiation at around the time their target would have been passing through.

“That’d be enough to put them in a bad way.” Light mused, looking at Jess and Senjen for validation.

“If my shield took that, I’d be looking to set down immediately.”

After a few hours of plugging and unplugging cables from interface ports, typing on various relief-keyboards and setting dials and gauges all over the place. Light shrieked.

“I’ve found something.” Spinning it up on the holo, it showed some kind of radiation trail deviating from the predicted path towards a barren rock. Light frantically navigated his astrogation systems.

“Its tidally locked…If it were me, i’d set down on the far side.” He gunned the engines and plotted a course to a position where they could ping the dark side.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Though he didn’t say anything, Light was dubious he’d last as long as seventeen years. That’d make him only a half-decade younger than any other QV he’d met. Yet his survival instinct was stronger than ever; he’d give it a damn good try. With enough money, it was certainly not impossible…

Light gently guided his ship out of light speed before scanning the system as best its systems could manage. The cobbled-together QV sensory adaptors painted a picture of the pulsar and other points of interest.

“Ok, that is pretty, i’ll admit.” he murmured before spurring them towards the path they were to follow.

It might have been disconcerting for anyone else in the cockpit to watch Light absently hum a tune while threading a path where the slightest misstep would’ve meant a painful death. But it was clear he was fully in control, deftly spinning up micro jumps in concert with the pulsar’s rotation while regularly scanning for clues as to their prize.

“Maybe we should get a pet with the money. What do we think? Do they sell pets that can tidy up around here?” He asked. This was a joke; Light had no concept of what ‘tidy’ would entail.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light’s eyes widened in confusion at Senjen’s distress. QV verged on time blind sometimes, but he suspected something may have gotten lost in translation as often they did between species. He patted the Utaysi’s head and made a soft shushing sound.

“It’s alright! I mean i’ll be here for a long time yet. I feel well, we eat good food and if we get rich I can try the ointments and unguents that are supposed to be magic for my kind’s longevity. You can’t get rid of me that easy, slick.”

There was a harsh beep from the cockpit. Light clucked. “Wiring is on the fritz again.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light sighed, spun a floating piece of rock debris round in the air. “I am…old. Not the oldest; medical science made sure of that centuries ago. But older than our bodies ever evolved to be. I am long past siring children, and in any normal shoal would either be the Thoughtweaver, a venerated elder or worst - outcast for no longer having anything to contribute.”

As he stared off into space, Light subtly tried to tuck the piece of rubble into Jess’ suit, as if it would help him think.

“As for how long I have left, who knows! Work keeps my mind active even if my body is jelly without this suit. I hope to see a good few years yet…How old are you both?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“The whole point of the Bangstick is to not require terrific accuracy, I think.” Light chortled, before going quiet and blushing more.

“No, I…I’m much too old to be mating. I’ll leave that to the youngsters, like Jess. I’d just like to be able to retire in peace.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Light tutted. “And to think I hired you as my bodyguard. Sheesh!” He then blushed when Senjen mentioned Symphony. “That was a professional fact-finding mission! If we’re going to level up our operation I'm going to need a new suit eventually. Did you know that the Myrmidon gel can cushion your vitals, with me still inside? You’d be wearing me like a jacket and backpack - neat right?...Besides, she’s nice! And she knows people who might have tasks for us, so there.”