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@iTem@superservo27@Silver Carrot

"That's enough" SAL said to both his companions, authorizing the full 12,000 credits "We have no need to bargain while we have access to this account. Time is of the essence, the ship needs to be 100% operational within the next 15 hours, so both of you take the parts back and get to work."

As they headed off, towing the parts away in a pair of wheeled crates, SAL stayed put.

"I require something else. If you don't have it, I'll pay for information on where I can get a fully operational drone frame, humanoid-style preferably, one that's either had it's memory core and Mainchip database formatted or one that's never had an AI loaded into it. I also need a pair of Quantum Accelerators and at least 4 feet of mainframe cabling."

______________________________

@Gardevoiran@ArkmageddonCat@Rultaos@TheEvanCat

Stryker returned Tibulass' salute before heading over to the table with Sadaet and Benny. He waited patiently for Sadaet and Benny to finish, sipping away at his beer with an amused look on his face. Over eight months of dreaming finally about to become reality.

"You're right" he started simply "The two girls in the corner, they're ours too. Our whole crew will have similarly falsified signatures, because in the public eye, none of us exist. All of our information was redacted, classified and sealed up the minute the Alliance got their hands on us, press-ganged us into this fucking Project of theirs- Revenant."

He took a minute or two to quickly explain the basics of Project Revenant, stopping every now and then to take a drink, careful to not let his glass get too empty, lest a waitress sidle over and overhear anything he said.

"... so that's where you come in. You see, we had this rogue AI that installed itself aboard, Ren it called itself. Flew with us for a few months before it up and left, but it did leave behind a small part of itself, converted into a VI with very basic controls over some ship systems, but like I said before, no way to get fully inside the Alliance's surveillance and control subsystem."

He took a breath and lowered his voice even further, it was barely more than a whisper now.
"A few weeks ago, I filed a report to the Alliance that the Ren VI was decaying, causing electrical malfunctions throughout the ship, and that no one in the crew could do anything to fix it, so I recommended hiring a person like yourself, which they approved of obviously. That's when I reached out to you, because I've heard of your reputation, and your skill set is exactly what we need.... because that report was a lie. About a week before I sent the report, I went to Benny here, asked him to whip up a virus, masked as a software update, which I injected to the system and let it sit for a few days, just long enough to cause a bit of inconvenience, so I could send a report. On paper, you're being hired to strip out the VI and uncouple the AI Tower that's still hardwired in, but in actuality, I want you to find a way inside the surveillance subsystem and set up a kill switch, something to disrupt, burn out, and permanently destroy their surveillance. They've got a kill switch of their own set up inside our weapons system, so we can't turn on the Alliance no matter how much we'd like to. And I think that's really the root of the matter, I've grown pretty fond of these folks over the last few months, they're all good people, and I don't want to spend a minute longer than necessary under the Alliance's boot, being a glorified slave, doing all the dirty work for them, time to break free, and if the crew is willing to follow me, we're gonna make life hell for the bastards that did this to us in the first place, so what do you say Sadaet, you in?"
@Rultaos@TheEvanCat@ArkmageddonCat@iTem@Gardevoiran

"Nothin' fancy. In fact, come as you are, Skelly should be more than enough to handle the situation, if one arises."

A few minutes later, the pair had exited the ship and headed off into the jostling crowd, conversing lightly as they headed towards The Wasted Wormhole. In Stryker's experience, it was one of the better places on Helios to grab a drink, quiet, out of the way, never too busy, and usually avoided by the rougher crowds. It was also conveniently close to the docks, away from the hustle and bustle of the main throughfares.

As expected, the place wasn't very lively. Stryker's gaze was drawn almost instantly to a corner booth where he spotted Matija and Tib, apparently very deep in conversation. Stryker gave a cursory nod in case either of them spotted him and also to draw Benny's attention to it. A pair of bartenders stood on opposite ends of the bar, one was a human woman, the other was a robot. A trio of servers, two humans, one Xaanderosi, flitted around delivering drinks to the various groups sitting at the tables and booths. A man sitting alone at the bar, the only person in the place drinking alone, had to be the guy. Stryker headed over there and leaned against the bar, his elbows and forearms resting comfortably on the counter top.

"Sadaet, I presume? I'm Stryker. Let me grab a drink and we can talk business."
He grabbed the attention of the closest bartender, the human girl.
"I'll have whatever he's having, and get my friend here one as well. We'll be grabbing a booth, take 'em over there please."
@Damo021 We're currently spending some time at a space station for rest and resupply. In the story they're about 12-ish hours away from departing, irl, whenever everyone's finished with the adventures they're on, a couple days or so max.
@Damo021 Oh hey there! Put together a CS and we can add you to the group before the next mission starts!
@Silver Carrot@iTem@superservo27

"There's no need for this" SAL said simply "You'll be fairly compensated. I've calculated up a total based on market price for each of these components, and added 3% extra for your patience. Add on the A35 axels, wirings, flow valves and crankshifts that my companion just spotted as well. Calculating..... rounding to nearest figure... how does 12,000 credits sound?"

Off to the side of his vision, SAL typed out a message, ran it through the background process of his vocal transponder and broadcast it over to Harrison's earpiece.

"Use Focus. Check For Quality. Tap foot twice if good, three for not. Hurry.

-----------------------

@sntabe@TheEvanCat@Rultaos

Over at the ship, Stryker was just finishing up the tour for Ryan and Mazie, they had looped all the way around the major areas over the course of roughly 20 minutes and had finally arrived back at the crew quarters.
"..... most of the crew is gone tonight, I gave them the night for some R&R before we head back out for the next job, so you'll meet em later. For now though, I'll leave you both to get straightened away." he jerked a thumb over to the gaping door hole where Room 1 was supposed to be.
"As you can tell, Room 1's a little out of sorts, long story, gotta try and fix that someday. Most of the rooms are free, only number 2 on the right side of the hall is occupied, 9 and 11 are free down in back on the left, just take whichever ones you want of the one's that're free, I'll catch up with you guys later."

He spotted Benny wandering out from the kitchen, and waved to grab the Scotsman's attention.
"Benny, how's it going man? Listen, how about you and me dodge out for a drink? I'm supposed to be meeting someone, wouldn't mind some backup in case it goes sideways."
@TheEvanCat To finally make it official- accepted!

@ArkmageddonCat If you're all done, also accepted!
@TheEvanCat I'm currently in the process of doing a plot summary of every critical event that'll be posted up in the beginning of the OOC, but it's a little ways off from completion. In the meantime, I can give you the cliff notes version:


@BKburke@sntabe

"Varrus. Things were going a little too smoothly recently, figures the Alliance would choose now to release you." Stryker spat, refusing to let up how much seeing the Illithid again had rattled him. He cast a glance over to the amused looking Alliance officer.
"Any chance I can request he not be allowed on the ship, for the safety of the others?"
"Gonna take a wild guess and say that request is denied." Casey drawled "You two have a history?"
Looking back over his shoulder to observe Varrus walking away, Stryker quietly muttered "Something like that."

Shaking the memories out of his head, he turned to greet the other two new recruits, who were patiently waiting off to the side.
"Ryan Rosq and Maviet.. Maza.. sorry, no offense but I'm not even gonna attempt to pronounce that, I'll only butcher it. You go by Mazie it says here? Ok, that's easier. Well, welcome to the party. Call me Stryker. Grab your stuff and follow me, we can get properly acquainted as I show you around the Revenant."

@iTem@superservo27@Silver Carrot

SAL and his mechanically-inclined companions strolled casually through a noisy bazaar of makeshift market stalls. Helios was widely known as a pretty centralized trading post for those travelling through the Deadzone. Odds are they'd find the parts needed to get the Revenant back up to 110% among the scrappers, junkers and scavengers that made a living off the hollowed-out corpses of destroyed ships.

"Perhaps it would be best to spread out and search for the parts we need. Stryker has given me full credit authority, so I interpret that as meaning price is no object, as long as we acquire top-quality parts. Wait, hold position."

As they had strolled past a stall, SAL's ocular scanners had picked up serial numbers that matched some of the parts they required. Even some that matched materials he needed to deal with Tobi's instability. Interesting. He stared down at the name assigned to the stall and processed the proper pronunciation.

"Qoorb, greetings, I believe you will be able to accommodate our needs. My companions and I are seeking an Atom Flux and burn regulators compatible with a TX-750 drive core. We also require carbon-fused transmission piping and a 50-Grade coolant tank, if you have it."
@Gardevoiran@Xandrya@t2wave@BKburke@Rultaos@iTem@superservo27@sntabe@Silver Carrot

39 Hours Later

The Revenant jolted slightly as she entered the artificial gravity field of Helios Station, one of the larger (and relatively speaking, safer) locations in the Deadzone. Primarily known as a trader's market, where the rule of the merchants was law, Stryker had chosen it as a rest stop for a few reasons, though to be fair, it was mostly for the homebrew liquor a tavern down there specialized in.

He confirmed docking with the harbormaster and set the ship into landing protocol. The behemoth ship shivered and shook as she came down onto the landing pad and the engines cut out. The general atmosphere on board was that of a crew itching to breathe some fresh (artificial) air, Stryker included. Grayson and Amy had been checked out of med bay, though neither of them was quite at 100% yet, the doc had cleared them to be out and about, provided they didn't start any bar fights or brawls in the street. Tibulass had checked out in all scans, though heshe hadn't been awake much in the last day and a half. Everyone else seemed good, though they were all in dire need of this little break. Stryker rolled his chair back as he stood up and stretched before tapping in to the ship-wide comms.

"Alright everyone, we made it. So just like I said on the way here, it's gonna take some time to refuel and cycle in fresh water. We've got a complete resupply coming in too, food, med supplies, ammo, and everything else that was requisitioned. And since we're military-ish, I've decided to invoke the ancient military rite of shore leave, so just like the name says, the next 18 hours are yours to do with as you please, all I'm gonna ask is that if you're not coming back to the ship tonight to sleep, ping me on the comms, so we don't leave without you in the morning."

Leaving the cockpit, he almost immediately ran into SAL. The robot must have been coming to speak with him.

"What's up?" he greeted.
With his usual blank expression, SAL replied "The engineers did what they could, but some sections of the engines are still not operating at 100%. The drive core's Atom Flux and burn regulators in particular are approaching critical levels of decay."
"I figured something like that was happening, could feel her shuddering a little ever since I took the wheel. Tell ya what, I'm transferring credit authority over to you, head out into the markets and find those parts. Take Koren and Harrison with you if they want to help."
With a nod, SAL headed off. Stryker was halfway down the hall to his room for some much needed shut-eye when his datapad pinged, a new message from the Alliance.

Attention Revenant Captain,
Got a few more for you, we've shipped them off to Helios Station, so they ought to arrive just before you do. Dossiers attached. They're in the care of First Officer Casey, you should find him at these coordinates...

The message auto-deleted as soon as Stryker tapped the coordinates, he nodded and tucked the datapad into his pocket, sighing as he turned on his heel and headed off to collect the new recruits.
@sntabe@Silver Carrot Just to make it official: both accepted!
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