Dyelli Beybi

Graveyard Orbit

Neri

So many humans... People would probably assume she was as well from the company she was keeping. Could that be an advantage in some way? She wasn't sure. She didn't think so...

"I will respond to Molybdenum. I do not like sharp objects." He tilted his upper body back and forth in order to sway his head. You might get the impression he is trying to nod. When he stopped he stood perfectly, unnervingly still. He kept his arms pressed flat down the sides of his body. He did not move like anything else.

@JFK

For anyone familiar with humanoid emotions, they would see a variety of emotions cross Neri's face as the fight-flight-freeze response kicked in. 'Freeze' seemed to win out, though a moment later she cracked a smile, "Well if we're getting clothes, I think you, Molybdenum, would benefit from a hat. Trust me, we'll find one that will suit you!"

...

When the robot actually managed to focus, she realized that the prisoners were introducing themselves. She didn’t actually internalize any of their boring human names, but it sounded fun, so she stepped forward to do so next. She seemed to carry herself without any self-awareness whatever about how badly she stuck out among all the rugged, fleshy, storied refugees of the starry frontier. “Howdy, y’all! I been called lots o’ stuff, like Thief, Stealer, Slag, Rustbucket, Sumbitch, and so on. But I like Bandit best. I was made for minin’, but these days the ‘mining’ I do is makin’ other folks’ stuff ‘mine’, hehhehheh!”

After quickly checking inside her storage compartment, though, Bandit’s face fell, metaphorically speaking at least. “Daww, consarn it all! Those rat bastards musta taken all my cash! I ain’t got so much as a doggone penny to my name…” Bandit groaned, her arms hanging so low they almost brushed the ground, but after another moment she straightened up. “Well, guess that settles it. I’m stickin’ with y’all for now. Wherever we’re headin’, they gotta have batteries there. And money. And heads!” Clearing her throat, she lowered her voice somewhat. “Still, uh, takin’ donations, by the way. Just sayin’.”

@Lugubrious

Thief, Stealer... Neri switched her attention to the robot, "You don't need a hat at this stage," she remarked, before getting to the most important bit, "Thief you say? So were we to, need someone to swipe some civilian clothes, would you be the right one for the job?"

"Because first off, our best chance here is to work together for now. We don't know this place and we don't have money. While one or two of you -" she glanced at Molybdenum and Bandit, "Can hide the fact you just got off a prison ship, the rest of us can't unless we want to run around this desert in our underwear which would be ill advised for a host of other reasons. We look like a bunch of escaped convicts, and I'd rather not end up unexpectedly escaping the labour camps only to end up straight back in whatever this planet's equivalent of a prison is."

Paradise Lost

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

...

Ren could not blame her, could not blame someone for protecting their family but she was pissed off too at same time, her own clan was gone, she was probably the last, she had lost everything and someone else had got out with their entire family? Rens head fell to the table. “You sharing…” Ren looked at the whiskey.. she probably should not drink but finding out someone had saved their family had made her want a drink to help soothe the pain that jabbed her soul. She was alone.

“I guess I'm the clan Elder… and I no longer owe any student debt as an upside. The bad news, my feast of honour is a rational pack meal, made of mystery meat, my ceremonial garb is a failed date dress, and now my job is a radioactive wasteland, that's not our faulty beam warmer.” Ren said in a burst of gallows humour to try and help her vent her mind's thoughts, and not blow up at the other woman for something Ren could not blame for.

Turning her head and looking up as she quirked a pointed ear but it seemed they were only ones about. Too many people was too much right now. Her almost golden eyes rimming with platinum made it clear Ren fully believed about being her only clan survivor “I cannot blame you Velia, in fact, does that not make you a Captain, me a Clan elder, and a de facto head of religion? We make quite the group. We could name our pilot, a Grand Admiral…” Ren said her voice went from a quiet measured tone to hiding her pain behind darker humour, but Ren was trying to cope… trying to carry on.

@PrinceAlexus

Velia Larci

"Of course!" Velia slid the bottle across the table, followed by a glass, "Nothing here really belongs to anyone," she remarked.

"Captain?" she adjusted an imaginary hat, with an expression of mock gravity before declaring, "I'm just the Communications Officer! I mean I wouldn't say 'no' to being the Captain, but surely there's someone more experienced around!"

"So what are your thoughts on this planned voyage to Sol?" she asked Ren, changing the subject, "As I was saying a moment ago, I'm not sure there even is a Sol system still, but its not like we have any better plans. We could find the whole Galaxy is just full of bugs and toasters, but I'm willing to bet there's somewhere safe still out there." She giggled, taking a sip from her drink, "And we could be jumping in completely the opposite direction to Sol! Who knows!"

Graveyard Orbit

Theme Music

The year is 2085. You are a former prisoner. You have been dumped on the planet of Caldera-3, a dusty, rugged, lawless frontier world that has been largely left to its own devices while galactic war rages around it. You have nothing to your name save for the clothes on your back. You'll need to find some way to make a living to survive and maybe even get off the planet...

---

Chapter One: Once Upon a Time in Space

Post cowritten with @Bingelly & @Terrans

---

"Out, get out!" they'd touched down on the planet a few minutes ago though this was the first time Neri had seen the landscape. She blinked in the sudden brightness of the boarding ramp as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, only to feel the muzzle of a blaster in her back urging her forward.

What the hell was going on? She didn't dare to ask. Her heart pounding in her chest as she walked forward, her hands raised in the universal gesture to say she wasn't up to anything. The planet was a dry one, or at least this part of it was. The weather was warm, low humidity. Low scrubby plants grew amongst the dusty red soil. It reminded her of Doona'tay, the dhasath home-world... or at least of what the dhasath home-world looked like in pictures.

She walked forward, stopping after a few paces, her shoulders tensing in the expectation of the red hot pain of a blaster shot... at least she assumed it was red hot. She didn't know. She'd never been shot.

There was a pause that seemed to drag on for an eternity. Cautiously, she half turned around, "So... what's going on?" she called back to the guard.

"Get the others," he muttered, though it was not aimed at her. He spoke louder a moment later, "You're staying here. We're leaving."

"Where's here?" Neri called back, turning now to face the kiellar prison guard.

"Caldera 3."

She paused, thinking for a moment as the warm, dry air stirred her hair, "Never heard of it."

"Most people haven't," the guard replied nonchalantly, "But it was on the way. This is your lucky day my dhasath friend. You're free."

"Free?" she asked as she processed what the guard was telling her, "This is a frelling desert!"

The guard motioned towards a low rise some distance away, "I thought a desert was your natural habitat... but here's a town over that ridge. You can figure it out from there."

Neri paused for a long moment, then nodded, "I'm going to go over there," she motioned at a patch of rocks about fifty yards away.

The guard shrugged and Neri lowered her hands, drawing herself up onto one of the rocks. She unzipped the front of the prison jumpsuit they had her wearing. She wore a black singlet underneath and pulled her arms out of the sleeves, letting the upper half of the prison garb fall to her waist, enjoying, for a moment, the simple pleasure of the rays from an actual sun on her shoulders.

She was disturbed a moment later by a kiellar who stopped next to her rock, brushing a hand through his scruffy beard. "We obviously can't stay here, Venetesh." His gruff voice was all business as he scanned the scrubland around the landing zone. "They're not gonna be so kind as to leave us food and water to make it very far either, so we're on a timer and that town's our best bet."

"No, we can't," Neri agreed with a shake of her head, taking a moment to stretch her back, "I was waiting for you, Vaehach, and the others. Safety in numbers," she shrugged, "Hard to say if the locals will be friendly or not," she paused for a moment then gave a wry laugh, "Or the rest of the people on our ship for that matter. It is a prison transport after all."

She didn't add that 'I really shouldn't have been on it', though Neri could have. She was a dhasath in the wrong place at the wrong time, assumed to be in the Legion... which she wasn't. But when people had an idea in their head it could be very hard to shift... She'd already told Vaehach all of that, probably more than once. Instead Neri gave a dry laugh, "I wonder if there's need for a plumber in that town?"

"Its a dustbowl colony," Vaehach coughed loudly, "They'll need trades and anyone not too stupid that they can't hold hammers." He tugged at the plain, gray garment he, and all the prisoners had been wearing, for emphasis as he continued. "The problem are these jumpsuits. We'll need to ditch them fast too."

A shadow fell over the pair of them and Neri looked up into the grey eyes of what she assumed must be a human, and a tall one at that. He could have been dhasath, but he would have been a bit on the pale side and she had heard there were human prisoners.

"Well we appear to be left with two unsavory options." While she could understand what she was saying she didn't know the language... it didn't sound like a dhasath language,. "Steal ourselves some new accoutrements or attempt to barter for them while in the garb of the damned." He paused, grinned, extending a hand, "Captain James Castleton; wrongly accused and now rightfully free."

Definitely a human. Neri dropped off the rock she was perched on, she clasped his forearm and stepped forward to embrace him with her other hand... but abruptly stopped, reading from his expression that she wasn't doing quite what he expected. She gave a sheepish smile, "This is a human gesture isn't it? And I'm not doing it right... Nerinai Venetesh. I also, really shouldn't be here; I got scooped up in a raid for Legion soldiers."

“It’s half of a human gesture.” He affirmed. Pulling his hand from hers gently.

"I think our only choice is to steal some clothes - we can pay the owners back later if people feel bad," Neri agreed with him, "If we walk in dressed as criminals we'll be treated as criminals. Though might be best to try to make any theft go unnoticed - take a little from different, well-laden washing lines."

“Wait washing lines? How is it we can travel the stars but we can’t make a washing machine standard in every colony?”

"You mean clothes driers?" Vaehach corrected. "It's hot and dry enough here that you can probably do without. Less power used, less heat generated. That can be valuable for a lone freeholder, or an isolated camp."

“Washers. Clothe driers. Nuclear toasters; let’s just get on to civilization before whatever passes for coyotes wonders along.” James began striding off during his tirade. Thankful at least that the sun wasn’t at its highest point yet.

"I didn't have a dryer growing up," Neri remarked to Vaehach as the human stormed off, wondering if he was being overly romantic or if she came from a particularly low place in the Universe, "Small apartment. Energy was expensive. We weren't wealthy. Sunlight, on the other hand, is free," she glanced back at the ship as more prisoners were ejected, "Guess we should probably follow after him.

She turned around, cupping her hands to her face to help her voice carry better, "Hey! Anyone wanting to change out of your prison clothes, follow me!"

In The Black (A Clean-Up Crew RP)

Fabio

Fabio hefted his gun to firing position, opening fire on the closest of the abominations, "Vaffanculo!" he yelled, stepping back as he did to put a bit more distance between him and the monstrosities in the corridor... which coincidentally put the two in his group a step closer if the creatures approaching were hungry, "Those don't look like a camera crew! Gun them down!"

Graveyard Orbit

@Badarby@El Gato Naranja@Lord Frostecs

All look good to me!

Paradise Lost

"I wonder if the toasters got to Andromeda?" Velia mused, staring into space for a moment. She didn't bat an eyelid at Vitiafa sidestepping her question... "From what I know of what happened back then the problem might have arisen in Sol, so they might have. Hmm... I only hope that there is still an Earth to find and we don't find some irradiated hell-hole and have to go back to the drawing board about where to take this old ship."

She shrugged as if to say there wasn't much to be done about it anyway and took another swig of her drink, "What are you hoping to find in the Sol system? Assuming of course, that we ever get to it."

Graveyard Orbit

@GeminiChaos sounds good... welcome aboard!

Graveyard Orbit

@GeminiChaos

Quick question (for your backstory) how does CJ end up on the prison ship?

@Bingelly

I rubber stamp this one.

Chronicles of Minadra

Not that I can see... I'm kinda keen to give it a few weeks then reboot the whole thing with the same cast :P Maybe do a bit of a post mortem.

In The Black (A Clean-Up Crew RP)

Fabio

Fabio, cautiously checked the doorway for enemies hiding in ambush though he couldn't see anyone as he carefully, weapon up, checked every angle he could without physically stepping into the room. Once he was reasonably sure nobody was about to open fire and no strange creatures were lurking in the shadows, he turned to Kedem, "I've got your six," he declared, helpfully volunteering Kedem to take point on this one. In fact he couldn't remember exactly where the security room was meant to be.

"Treat anyone locked in the room as hostile," he said, nodding to himself as if it were the only logical way to proceed.

@Theyra