[Exalted] Into the Sargasso

[Dan Hawkins]

Nova knew this part it was the automated authentication phrase for this ship, something that only he and the captain would know.. something he knew no one else what grasp. "Kestrel, I have secured this channel. Please hold your communicator towards them." He waited. "This is Admiral Nova Corona, Authentication code Alpha Lima Pi Iota. Code phrase "In amber clad, a rainment of eternal glory."

,,

[Long6] 11:44 am: rolling intelligence +lore +past lives
Long6 *rolls* 9d10: 4+3+9+10+2+2+7+8+4: 49
[Long6] 11:44 am: how do 10' s work in exalted?
[Long6] 11:44 am: been so long
Moira Morley *rolls* 9d10t7r10: 7,10,7,4,5,5,10,9,2,10,8,1. Successes = 7.
[envoy] 11:45 am: 10s are two successes.
[Long6] 11:45 am: so 5 successes.

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel did as asked, turning up the gain, and opening up the pressurized helmet so the speakers could be heard outside.

,,

It was, she reflected, a good thing the life support systems had been kept in operation. This would have been...awkward.

,,

Dan's voice brought a wince to her, just from the volume, but she kept her eyes on the machine-women, ready to act on a heartbeat should they seem not to accept the authorization.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Both of the Automatons stopped, then bowed. "Greetings, Lawgiver, by the right and the law, under the authority of the Admiral, the ship is yours, what would you command of us?"

[SalmonMax]

Quickly Kestrel shifted mental gears. She pointed at the one on the left. "I need a status report on ship's systems and crew." Then the other one. "You get me a cargo manifest and access to all holds and armories."

[Karren Gaunt]

Karren didn't have the memory Dan did, but his response did jog loose something from the tangled memories which had guided her to him in this life in the first place.

,,

"In Amber Clad," she added, still a chitin-scaled monster of a woman but not one a heartbeat away from decapitating the constructs ahead of them, proud of the kernel of knowledge she had pried loose, "What she just said. We're looking for soulbreaker orbs, ravager orbs, and stellar seeds, and have every reason to believe the enemy will be here to try and take them sooner rather than later. We can protect this ship from them, but I'd rather the more precious cargo is away from the fight when it comes."

[SalmonMax]

"We don't actually have to tell them all that," Kestrel says, a little annoyed. "It's not like they're going to be impressed or anything."

[Copper Palm Zed]

Hmm. Good point.

"And after you deliver the information to, uh, the Lawgiver here, delete your memory back to the point of accepting her credentials."

That's how they'd do it in the spy vids, right

"So how long have you guys been active? Who activated you?"

[Heaven's Reach ST]

"Full Access..

,,

Three Armories... one of which is for military units, containing armor, starcasters and weapons for a Dragon Blooded Legion and their Lunar Commander, and Elemental Star of Warstriders.. the ship contains two of the soulbreaker orbs you speak of, locked in Armory Two..

,,

Repair Status.

Lifesupport, 89%

Internal Defenses, 100%

External Weapons, 23%

Propulsion, Irreparable, Engine Core has been ejected, unable to rebuild propulsion without replacement core

Engines, Secondary Core, 87% - Present Primary Priority Status

Physical Integrity, 73%

Sensors, 100%

Shields, 74%

,,

Crew Status, Evacuated, Captain in Suspended Animation, Essence Providing extended power to starship systems.. Ships Material Intelligence, Also in stasis, providing further power.

,,

We were brought online by the captain, with orders to carry out all possible repairs, and to wake her once all repairs were complete."

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel sags back against the bulkhead, momentarily overcome with dizziness.

,,

The ship was thaaaaaaaaat close to being operational. Still hurt as hell, barely functioning, but functioning. There wasn't enough money in the sector to buy something like that. Especially since it came complete with a Captain and SMI, both of whom were presumably fully versed in the old tech and how to use it. And it completely ignored the value of all the other stuff in the armory, which by the sound of it was ALSO incalculable.

,,

"So Dan..." she said weakly. "We need to have a talk about how this is going to work. We can secure the Orbs, obviously...but what about the rest?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Karren smirked. She loved how asking for what you wanted sometimes got you what you want without having beat people up.

"How we proceed if my Mate has half the brains in his head that I know he does is that one of our hosts guides me to get the prizes and I take them back to the ship aboard the shuttle for safe keeping. You and Zed stay here to help keep this thing intact and out of Lintha hands until I get back with more help or we run. Isn't that right, dear?"

The imposing Lunar laughed, one hand pressing her com bead on to convey her words back to the Voidswimmer, tone full of mirth and self-confidence.

[SalmonMax]

Leaving me alone, well with Zed but effectively alone, on a ship full of ancient artifacts in working order that have not been counted or catalogued?

,,

Kestrel nods heavily. "Maybe that would be best," she reluctantly agrees.

[Dan Hawkins]

Nova overheard the Status and nodded. "If I leave anyone, it will be Dyna and Kestrel and perhaps Sophia, to maintain and catalogue everything. I want to know what it will take to revive the ship's captain, and to make the ship fully functional."

,,

He had his own thoughts, He wanted to fully salvage the ship and would do all it took to do so. He fired up a secure channel to Dyna. "I want you to go and see if there's some way we can take our engine and use it to power that ship, either through synchronizing them, or more drastic measures."

[Sunstar]

Sophia stands up from her post when Nova suggests sending her in.

,,

"Just say the word and I'm there, Nova!"

,,

She said with a grin. Perfect chance to get out and do something after being told stay and guard the ship.

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel scowls a bit at the mention of sending others from Voidswimmer to catalogue. Even so, it doesn't dampen her mood much. Even supervised, there was no chance she wasn't walking away from this with a small fortune. It would just be a little smaller than she'd like.

,,

"Karren, why don't you get one of these fine, hardworking androids to show you where the orbs are?" she suggests. "I'll have the other one show me to the other armories and get started on that cataloguing."

[Heaven's Reach ST]

As the team made up their minds, the two androids returned to their work, though one of them moved to a different part of the room, and opened a panel on one side of the engine room, leading into a different room, which in the center was a stasis chamber. The woman in the stasis chamber was no human, but one of the Vara, and for that matter, from all appearances, one of the Adamant caste. Her pose was one of meditation, and the chamber was clearly cabled into the ships engines, which explained the earlier words about her being part of the ship's power source.

,,

OCC: Somewhat Mature Image - The Captain

,,

"If your are capable of bringing this vessel fully online, then it is time to wake the captain.. "

[SalmonMax]

"First things first," Kestrel replies quickly. "The cargo needs to be secured. If we disconnect her, and she doesn't wake up, we lose ship's power and that would make the whole operation...messy. Once we've completed mission objectives we'll take care of the secondary priorities."

,,

Yeah, that sounded military, right? Totally.

,,

"So! Open up the armories, and then you can get back to work."

,,

For androids, she mused, these things were slow to obey orders.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

"Your DNA and exalted natures have already been uploaded, the armory's are open to the exalted presently aboard, we do not need to take you too them, the computer systems can lead the way."

,,

**** **** **** ****

,,

Meanwhile, aboard the Voidswimmer.. "I could likely buildt something to opperate their engine's in a month or two... " Dyna responded to the Captain's orders

,,

"But I don't think we'll have the time for anything like, Dad, I'm detecting an empire ship entering the system.."

,,

"Well, I could take our engine core and install it into the battleship without too much trouble, in an hour or so, but ours is a frigate's engine core, that's a battleship, we wouldn't have full power, and we'd have to move quickly.."

[Copper Palm Zed]

Trying to keep the gleam of avarice out of his eyes was like trying to fight a forest fire with a picnic blanket.

"Okay, so Karren, you do the thing where you secure the, uh..."

He trailed off. Trying to find the words to describe the planet breakers brought his mind away from images of magical weapons and treasure and back to the matter at hand.

"The, uh, femotech weapons. Of mass destruction. That can s-"

He stopped himself from blurting anything out. "That can shitcan at lot of stuff. Yeah. you're gonna do that, we're just gonna make sure that everything goes according to plan here and then maybe check out the armory after we're sure this thing will stay in one piece?"

His greed slightly put aside but still glowing, he looked around at the computer terminals, blissfully unaware of the impending approach of an Imperial vessel.

[Dan Hawkins]

On his secure channel to Dyna, he spoke "Dyna, can we use the docking and tow mag-clamps to secure the ships together? Building on that is it possible to transfer power directly into the ships engines to get both ships back to base safely, as opposed to removing the engine and installing it in the other, can we just use the emergency conduit linkups?"

,,

He needed her answer, because if "That" was possible he'd sortie in his Armor with Karren and began moving away the debris, so that they could salvage the ship and get them both to safety.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Dyna considered Dan's words for but a moment then nodded. "It's doable, will make us a bit slower then just taking our core and installing it into theirs, but we'd have both ships, and our weapons could increase theirs, but that's a long of junk to clear in order to get in, let along getting out and moving."

[Dan Hawkins]

"We have Karren and I to move it, and we can use the shuttle as well, can we not?" He sighed. "Besides we have an Imperial ship in system as well, and I damn sure am not leaving the Endeavor to those vultures."

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel glanced at Zed, then shrugged. "Last one in!"

,,

She whirled and hurried back to the armories, triumphantly presenting herself at the door scanner to see if she now had access.

[Krul]

Kestrel and Zed

,,

The door slide open, granting the access she was seeking, inside appeared like this:

,,

Starcasters, diakliaves, dire lances, articulated plate, mostly in jade, artifacts enough for to equip a force of dragon blooded numbering 250, worth millions on the interstellar market.. but more to Kestrel's interest, was likely the small group of artifacts for the celestial officers, four sets of further equipment like the others, but in Moonsilver, Orichalcum, Adamant and Starmetal.

Dan and Karren

"In that case captain, if you and Karren can clear the way, my crew and I will start the work to attach us and get both ships moving, but let's move fast, I imagine that the empire would prefer to confiscate a first age artifact ship like this one, I think Althea can remain here on the command deck and keep the rest of us informed and up to date on anything new.." Dyna replied and glanced over at Althea who nodded.

"With your permission, Captain, I had better get on it." Dyna departed the command deck as soon as she got a nod from the Captain.

[SalmonMax]

A strangled, choking noise squeaked out of Kestrel's throat, and she had to hold out a hand on the wall to prop herself up for a moment.

,,

After a second to adjust to how rich she was now, she gave Zed a sudden grin and said, "Race you," before immediately darting forward in a blaze of speed and Essence to check out the officer's gear more closely!

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "Do it. Althea, you have the Con. Sophia I want you to file a salvage claim in my name on this derelict ship and all contents, just to cover our bases. File it as soon as it's ready, but only in the secure Marshal directory. "

,,

He keyed up the secure channel for Karren. "Get outside, and start clearing all the debris away from the ship. I'm on my way to help. Our shuttle will be assisting. "

,,

He called up one of the pilots to man the shuttle to assist in debris removal and had sophia and another pilot on station to handle the docking procedures. He made his way to one of the air locks, sealed his armor, and disembarked the ship after they drew near, moving quickly to remove the debris that would block the docking of the ships.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Kestrel

,,

Each set of gear of officer gear was a bit more detailed then the equipment meant for the dragon blooded ground forces, but the first gear no doubt of interest to the young solar was the gear that was designed for a solar officer. Several of the weapons seemed to be there to match the dragon blooded, the starcaster and the dire lance and the armor, but a panel behind it opened to show a different set of gear, within a glass globe what appeared to be some sort of strange liquid protoplasm, and beside it a pair of bracers, which upon close inspection appeared to have a number of symbols regarding martial art's Kata's.

,,

Meanwhile, Zed appeared to be doing nothing but standing there with his mouth wide open..

,,

Dan and the Voidswimmer

,,

The captain had given his orders and the crew immediately began to carry them out, while Kestrel and Zed remained aboard the Nobel Endeavor, Dan in his armor, Kerren in her war form and the shuttle pilot began to tow a huge about of wreckage out of the way, allowing the Voidswimmer to move in close and connect to the hull of the more ancient ship. Their efforts also caused a bit of distortion in the larger ship's cloaking field, but it remained somewhat concealed, and as they were not the only ship out in the system who appeared to be carrying out salvage efforts, hopefully it would allow them to remain under the radar long enough to carry out the task, but it was one that was going to take a few hours..

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan had them moving slowly but surely, knowing he had to buy time for Dyna to make the necessary connections, while keeping the other ships away. To anyone else it looked like a salvage operation, and he smiled. "This will be the achievement of a lifetime, When we pull this off." He said to himself quietly as he continued his dilligent work.

[Sunstar]

"No Problem, Dan."

,,

Sophia accesses the database, humming to herself as it loads.

,,

"There we go. Filling and...... Done. Claims been filled, Dan. It's all yours, 'Cap."

[Copper Palm Zed]

After the initial shock of the fortune in front of him wore off, Zed shook his head, feeling as though he had just woken up from a fantastic dream. Wiping away a bit of drool that had escaped his slack-jawed expression, he stepped in.

Treasure. Enough to last a lifetime. More.

Hesitantly, moved toward one of the suits of armor. Elegant caligraphy spelled out poetry in a language he couldn't read. Graceful lines traced patterns in lacquered jade. The magical material felt light as a feather beneath his grubby hands and he even felt the stirring of his normally-sluggish Essence trying to flow and attune to the enchanted suit.

"Weapons... armor... equipment... hell there's enough here to take on the Lintha. Hell, I almost think we could take on an Imperial battlecruiser!"

***

Somewhere, somewhen, a long-suffering Sidereal facepalmed.

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel glanced at the armor and gear...valuable to be sure, but not very portable. The sphere and bracer caught her eye much more. The sphere because it was weird, and the bracers because they were valuable AND portable...maybe even useful to her. A few moments of inspecting the symbols and script were enough to convince her they'd work with Essence flow during the exercise of martial arts...so useful, but it'd take experimentation to see if they were better than her trusty heartstone-set bracers. And if not they'd still fetch a tidy sum from any practitioner!

,,

The sphere was harder to place. She'd read about several things it MIGHT be, and given where it was located and what it was placed with, she suspected it was one of the so-called 'chaomorphic' symbiotes; a creature designed to interface physically and via Essence and give new abilities to its user. Because there was no way to know what it did exactly, there was an element of risk in using it.

,,

But she was in a stellar graveyard in a derelict ship in the shadow of both the Empire and the Lintha. Caution was SO not a part of this plan.

,,

And it was too big to smuggle, at least while inside the glass ball.

,,

Kestrel turned the sphere around, looking for a catch or control to open it.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Kestrel & Zed

,,

As the two of them moved though the armory, it was clear that they were quite impressed, and this one one of three, though later investigations would indicate the other two armory's were devoted to ship weapons, such as the spheres, and the third was meant for mortals, though the weapons there would be impressive, non of them were artifacts, the way this entire room appeared to be.

,,

Zed found himself standing beside a set of armor of jade meant for one of his people, and even in the colors of his aspect, black jade, that he was running his hand over..

,,

Kestrel found the catch she was looking for, a button that she could press that created a small opening on the top of it the size of a nickle, which, considering the protoplasmic nature of the symbiote it could easily be poured out though that hole by turning it over.

,,

Outside

,,

Meanwhile, as the claim was registered with the Celestial Mountain, Captain Hawkins and his team prepared to connect the two ships together, they would in essence, claim the entire ship as space salvage, if they could get away with it. Interstellar law was fairly clear, outside of the empire at least, if they left with the ship, it would be legally theirs once they arrived back at dock, in fact, technically it was already theirs, but with pirates and empire around, they had to act fast before one of them interfered

[Dan Hawkins]

Over his private line to Sophia, he spoke. "Sophia, the Imerial ship is more interested in the Lintha, at the moment, if they start getting curious, we're here with a permit for regular salvage, Don't reveal us as A Marshal ship unless pressed. Stall for time, and damn sure don't allow them to board."

,,

He switched over to Dyna. "I have the clamps clear Dyna, ready to begin docking and attaching the energy feeds. Are you ready to get started?"

[Sunstar]

"Okay. We should be in the clear for now. Just so pirates or imperials don't show up. Other this pretty much is your as of filing the claim. Just keep in mind we need to get this back to port so any issues will be moot"

,,

Sophia said that last part in a sing-song kind of voice.

[SalmonMax]

Kestrel eyed the globe, then shot a quick look at Zed. Yep, he was going to be busy. She knew that gleam in his eyes very well. Tucking the bracers away, she said to the Terrestrial, "Welp, 'scuse me for a few minutes. Be right back."

,,

As she hurried out she contacted Voidswimmer.

,,

"Captain, what's our status out there? Things are fine here. Armories are intact. Cargo's been found and secured. Only wrinkle is that the automata think we're going to bring the original captain, who's in some kind of stasis pod or something, back to consciousness. Not sure that's the best plan myself. What's your take on this?"

,,

The ship was large, and finding an out of the way little nook wasn't hard. There she undid the various snaps and zippers on her voidsuit and peeled it off, then did the same with her undergarments. Her quick glance around was not exactly fueled by modesty, but rather a desire for no witnesses. It was her hope that what she was about to do would be concealable after the fact. If not...well...she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

,,

A quick pass of her fingers opened the port in the globe...and she poured the symbiote out over her hands while waiting for the captain's reply.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan keyed up the channel to respond to Kestrel. "I will leave that to Dyna to handle when she gets there, She will probably have a better idea how to safely rouse her. At the moment we're trying to mate the ships so we can use our engines to jump them both out. Situation outside is tense. We've got the debris cleared, and An imperial Ship just dropped out of the Canals, angling to engage the Lintha. No word from Janos yet, though the Lintha have not engaged."

,,

He wanted to revive the Captain, After all, Nova knew she'd be a powerful ally, if she wasn't insane after all this time. More than that it was someone who knew him, and that he'd trusted so implicitly. Bringing her back would only be right."

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Kestrel

,,

As the symbiote was poured over her skin, it spread out to cover her from head to toe, sticking to her skin like some thick transparent goo, and the moment it covered her completely, linking itself to her genetic structure, both of them familiarizing themselves with each other, there was momentary tingle on her skin as she attuned the artifact for a single mote, and suddenly she was as she started, but she could feel the effects of the artifact, she instinctively knew what it could do for her, and what it's purpose was.

,,

Zed

,,

Still in the armory, the dragon-blooded didn't even seem to notice the departure of the solar with her gains, as he investigated the many artifacts designed for his people, trying to decide if he would take one or not.

,,

Dan and the Voidswimmer

,,

The project was going very well, the empire ship hadn't seemed to notice them yet, no doubt still making up their minds on their next action, and his own task was going quite swiftly, though the area wasn't completely clear yet, already the engineering crew was moving outside the ship in void suits, setting up cables according to Dyna's directions to quickly connect the two ships so that both could move together.

[Dan Hawkins]

For Dan the work was Tedious. "Dyna, do you need to do anything for Noble Pursuits Upon the Endless Journey Through the Infinite, The seemingly comatose Adamant Caste sleeping within the Ship before you begin to funnel power into it? I'd hate to lose her if there's any possible chance we can revive her."

[Copper Palm Zed]

If a suit of armor had been made for him, this was it. Dark blue sheets of jade covered the torso, highlighted by lighter aquamarine veins along the articulating joints and darker fibers providing the lining in the unarmored spots at the elbows and knees. In stark contrast were the white markings that adorned the shoulder pieces of the armor. Likely a rank insignia for a long-dead military headed by a Solar general who fought the nameless horrors in the outer dark. For all its obvious value, it was a simple, utilitarian item that took on itself the task of protecting its wearer, leaving the ornamentation and ostentatiousness to the officers.

,,

As he touched it, the shimmering blue jade surface seemed to flow beneath his fingers. Already he could feel the waves of essence flowing into his hands, as though the jade armor were exerting a tidal pull on the blood of the dragons that coursed within him.

,,

You aren't a warrior. You remember that, right? Shut. Up. Other Zed.

,,

The starcaster was a similarly utilitarian affair. Its pistol grip slid almost eagerly into his hand, letting his fingers slide behind the guard mounted in front of the trigger. A compact box containing the magical reactor sat behind a snub nosed barrel that would discharge blasts of elemental energy.

,,

He cast a longing glance at the great spear that sat in the rack with the other jade equipment. Zed wasn't a combatant by any stretch of the imagination, but something about the jade tip seemed to speak to him. The same drunken monk that had traded lessons for booze had once mentioned a style of martial arts that used a spear, but damned if Zed could remember it off the top of his head. Maybe I can get one of the celestials on the crew to give me some pointers or something.

,,

Shaking his head, Zed moved a little further in, searching nearby cabinets and equipment racks for more weaponry that could be used by the crew in the likely event of a confrontation with Lintha pirates.

[Heaven's Reach ST]

Zed

,,

Going though the cabinets behind the primary weapons that were directly visible and available, he was able to find a few other weapons, the dire spear and star caster were clearly preferred by whoever stocked this armory, but there were about a dozen other jade weapons, most of them were daikliaves of different types, but a few other rarer types of weapons, a wrackstaff, seven-serpent staff, a tsunami blade, and a varja could be found by someone looking for them.

,,

Outside

,,

Meanwhile, while the Empire ship appeared to be scanning the system, it seemed that the Lintha ship turned in it's direction, which certainly would be distracting from what was going on over here, as the way was cleared and Dyna came outside the ship to oversee the connections, even as she sent a message back to Dan. I believe Captain, if I am present we can keep matters from becoming hostile, if she is who I am thinking she is, I am a close relative.. though we don't quite have the same kinship as you humans, as we are shaped, not born, so to speak, it amounts to me being sort of her niece or cousin in your peoples terms.

[Copper Palm Zed]

The shock of the treasures began to wear off and he gleefully tore through his pockets, looking for something to write with. He pulled out and discarded a length of string, a woefully unused rubber, an empty box of breath mints, and a holovid advertisement chip before finally finding a nub of a pencil and a notebook.

Hastily scribbling a stylized 'Z' on several pages, he affixed his mark to the Jade armor and direlance he'd been ogling. The starcaster and holster went around his waist, the buckle partly obscured by his slightly protruding gut. Then the Serpent Sting Staff caught his attention. With an oafish grin, he pulled it down and gave it a twirl.

The greenish-blue jade of the weapon seemed to flow around his arm, winding for a brief moment like a sinuos wave. The moment passed and the tip went out of control, flailing into s corner and knocking over a weapon rack. Chagrinned, Zed righted the mess as best he could, then folded the artifact up and slipped it into his coat.

Looking around, he was slightly relieved to see that no one had witnessed the gaffe. Reaching for his communcator, it was a few seconds before the implication of that fact caught up with him.

"Uhh.. Kestrel?"