Re: LAST. THING. STANDING. [S!1][ROUND ONE: TELEVISION LAND]
01-05-2012, 12:02 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Sanzh.
"Are you sure leaving this room is a good idea? You did hear the alarm, right?"
"The materials here are insufficient. I require suitable supplies."
While Maria was not questioning her overall decision to align herself with Kriok, the avian was a frustrating choice of associate. In the space of a few minutes, the alien had gone from somewhat collected, to threatening to murder her, to again acting calm. And now, instead of waiting out this alarm, she wanted to go out in search of construction materials-- which was all well and good if it meant less time in this barbaric contest, but perhaps not the most ideal course of action when there was a state of alarm. Hoping to persuade the alien to take an alternative action, she spoke again.
"Given that I have a uniform, maybe I should go out and bring things back here for you? You know, seeing as I don't appear to be an intruder and wouldn't draw suspic--"
Kriok had set her own priorities, and first amongst them was escaping. She still did not have the specifics formulated, but she was fairly certain that there would be some common components regardless of the rest of the machinery involved. As soon as she had assembled the common components, she could move onwards to the actualization of the escape machinery-- and waiting for the all-clear on an alarm was a needless delay.
"You wouldn't know what you were looking for, even if I told you. I will have to search on my own."
With that, the alien left the bedroom, the automatic door sliding open to let her pass.
"Hey, hold up!" Maria yelled, moments after the door had closed.
Maria quickly moved to follow Kriok-- the cyborg was far from the most stable individual. The image of her threatening to kill the individuals present on this channel momentarily passed through Maria's mind, and given her brief experience with the avian, that outcome seemed entirely possible. She left the room, looking for the alien.
Kriok stood in the hallway, frozen. Further away, Maria could see a pair of humans, each one wearing a similar uniform to hers and brandishing an odd, plastic-coated weapon. Maria's entry had not gone unnoticed, as one of the two personnel addressed her.
"Ensign Maria! Get away from the intruder, you don't know what it's capable of!" He yelled, clearly concerned for his fellow crew-member's safety.
Before Maria could explain, Kriok offered her an accusatory glare, as though the alien thought she had made the wrong choice in sparing her.
"No, wait--"
Maria, not wanting to lose the tenuous alliance with the alien, thought quickly. The inhabitants of this channel recognized her-- perhaps she could vouch for her? Considering the alternatives, Maria saw no options other than attempting to sway the crew currently threatening Kriok.
"--uh, the alien is with me? She means no harm? Listen, I can vouch for her if you need me to, but don't shoot her please?" Maria pleaded, desperately hoping that the situation wouldn't escalate.
The two crew-members were more than aware of the unusually high casualty rate of security personnel-- the division of the ESS Pyreness that they had unfortunately been assigned to. While the technical procedure for managing an intruder that had surrendered was to escort them to the brig for later investigation, time spent with any uninvited visitors tended to end messily. Both crew-members wanted to spend as little time as possible near a potentially dangerous threat, and an exit had just presented itself with Ensign Maria's plea.
One of the two security crew-members spoke. "Right, you'll need to see, uh, Admiral Huxley about that. Head to the bridge, please." He motioned to one of the vessel's many elevators.
"Uh, do you need to accompany us, or--"
"No, no, it's more than alright. Go ahead. Please."
Maria was delighted to have successfully avoided a potential conflict. While she wasn't in the clear yet, she was facing better odds than before and had fairly successfully removed the threat of atomization-- or whatever it was their weapons did. She hopped into the elevator car, motioning for Kriok to join her.
Kriok followed, hesitantly. As soon as she entered, the doors closed and the elevator began its journey, somehow aware of their planned destination.
She looked at Maria, assessing her. While she was glad Maria had navigated past that fracas-- something she hadn't thought to do, the alien reminded herself, noting her continuing difficulty in social situations-- this was still another distraction.
"You are aware that this will be another delay." There was a twinge of irritation in Kriok's voice.
"Yes, but maybe if we talk it over with this Admiral we can explain our situation. Get him to help us out, you know?"
Kriok made a soft crooning noise to herself, an odd gesture of dissatisfaction with Maria's response. "I am sure he will be delighted to have me disassembling his vessel."
"You could offer to help him, maybe? Surely you can work something out. You've got all of that robot stuff, surely you could help out somewhere on this spaceship."
Before Kriok could protest that, despite her experience and extensive technical knowledge, she would not have familiarity with this specific vessel's subsystems and that it wasn't even a real spaceship, the elevator's doors whirred open, revealing the bridge of the ship.
Admiral Huxley, given his position as commanding officer, had numerous crises to attend to. Aside from the usual politics between crew-members, there was also the mission that he had been assigned-- a routine assignment, but one that needed careful attention and direction nonetheless.
He gazed out at the view-screen, looking at his target. The nebula before him, an enormous white cloud that angrily crackled with patches of interference akin to that of an old television, was impressive, to say the least. However, Huxley knew that the nebula was the hiding place of innumerable pirates-- the scum of the galaxy was within, likely engaging in all manner of crimes. Huxley knew that it was up to the brave crew of the ESS Pyreness to put a stop to the pirate's depravity and bring security to the stars.
As the bridge elevator opened, Admiral Huxley knew he had another task to attend to-- the business of the unexpected intruder. Despite Huxley's righteous crusade against piracy and the sinister Cordalian Empire, contact with new alien cultures was something that excited him. The prospect of adding another species as an ally of the Earth Republic only excited the commander more. He stood up, walking to the visitor and the ensign accompanying her.
"Ensign Maria. While your guest is certainly unexpected, I understand you're willing to vouch for her." He turned to look at the nerrin. Huxley was already intrigued just from the sight of her-- robots were common enough, but a cyborg was a rare sight. "And you are...?" He questioned, trailing off.
Kriok ignored the commanding officer, instead looking around the bridge. The entire set-up seemed inefficient-- they had declined to have a direct interface, instead having rows of crew manning various terminals. This entire array could be reduced down to a handful of crew if they used artificial intelligences rather than organic crew. She wondered what other peculiarities this vessel had as she scanned the bridge.
Admiral Huxley cleared his throat, attempting to get the alien's attention. "I never got a name." He said impatiently.
"Kriok."
"She's the last of her species, Commander. She's, uh, been through a lot." Maria added, hoping the comment would distract from the avian's callous disregard for his position.
"I'm... sorry to hear that. Is there anything we can provide? Anything to help rebuild your civilization?"
"Doubtful. I don't think anyone else survived."
Huxley thought about the other civilizations that had been extinguished by the cruel menace of the Cordalians. "I wish we could have arrived in time to prevent such a catastrophe. I'm truly sorry for your loss."
Kriok did not hear his sentiments. She was too busy examining the view-screen, looking at the nebula of howling static before her. Despite a change in locale, there was still a reminder that she was being scrutinized-- the static had been on every channel she had visited, and this was no exception. This channel would not be safe, not for much longer.
Kriok felt herself involuntarily getting tenser in response to this threat. She looked back at Maria, looking for a glimmer of recognition that they were in a perilous situation.
"Crackbird!"
Kriok whirled around to locate the source of the voice. Another member of the crew had just entered the bridge, but unlike Maria she recognized her from the introduction she had endured. The permanent black eye was a telling mark.
"Shit, look, I've been trying to find someone to talk to who's a contestant in this damn supers tournament, and I've sort of been through hell to get here. Look, can we just talk?"
"Lieutenant Freefall, is there something wrong?"
"Oh, shit, sorry Captain--"
"Admiral."
"--Admiral, right. Listen, I'll be back in a second, just got to talk to robo-bird here. You're okay with that, right Crackbird?"
"Kriok."
"Okay, great, let's go."
Before Kriok could complain about Freefall's vociferous behavior, she was yanked away to one of the elevators by Freefall, the door quickly closing after them. The alien and the superhero were now alone.
Maria silently cursed herself for missing a chance at talking to Freefall.
"Are you sure leaving this room is a good idea? You did hear the alarm, right?"
"The materials here are insufficient. I require suitable supplies."
While Maria was not questioning her overall decision to align herself with Kriok, the avian was a frustrating choice of associate. In the space of a few minutes, the alien had gone from somewhat collected, to threatening to murder her, to again acting calm. And now, instead of waiting out this alarm, she wanted to go out in search of construction materials-- which was all well and good if it meant less time in this barbaric contest, but perhaps not the most ideal course of action when there was a state of alarm. Hoping to persuade the alien to take an alternative action, she spoke again.
"Given that I have a uniform, maybe I should go out and bring things back here for you? You know, seeing as I don't appear to be an intruder and wouldn't draw suspic--"
Kriok had set her own priorities, and first amongst them was escaping. She still did not have the specifics formulated, but she was fairly certain that there would be some common components regardless of the rest of the machinery involved. As soon as she had assembled the common components, she could move onwards to the actualization of the escape machinery-- and waiting for the all-clear on an alarm was a needless delay.
"You wouldn't know what you were looking for, even if I told you. I will have to search on my own."
With that, the alien left the bedroom, the automatic door sliding open to let her pass.
"Hey, hold up!" Maria yelled, moments after the door had closed.
Maria quickly moved to follow Kriok-- the cyborg was far from the most stable individual. The image of her threatening to kill the individuals present on this channel momentarily passed through Maria's mind, and given her brief experience with the avian, that outcome seemed entirely possible. She left the room, looking for the alien.
Kriok stood in the hallway, frozen. Further away, Maria could see a pair of humans, each one wearing a similar uniform to hers and brandishing an odd, plastic-coated weapon. Maria's entry had not gone unnoticed, as one of the two personnel addressed her.
"Ensign Maria! Get away from the intruder, you don't know what it's capable of!" He yelled, clearly concerned for his fellow crew-member's safety.
Before Maria could explain, Kriok offered her an accusatory glare, as though the alien thought she had made the wrong choice in sparing her.
"No, wait--"
Maria, not wanting to lose the tenuous alliance with the alien, thought quickly. The inhabitants of this channel recognized her-- perhaps she could vouch for her? Considering the alternatives, Maria saw no options other than attempting to sway the crew currently threatening Kriok.
"--uh, the alien is with me? She means no harm? Listen, I can vouch for her if you need me to, but don't shoot her please?" Maria pleaded, desperately hoping that the situation wouldn't escalate.
The two crew-members were more than aware of the unusually high casualty rate of security personnel-- the division of the ESS Pyreness that they had unfortunately been assigned to. While the technical procedure for managing an intruder that had surrendered was to escort them to the brig for later investigation, time spent with any uninvited visitors tended to end messily. Both crew-members wanted to spend as little time as possible near a potentially dangerous threat, and an exit had just presented itself with Ensign Maria's plea.
One of the two security crew-members spoke. "Right, you'll need to see, uh, Admiral Huxley about that. Head to the bridge, please." He motioned to one of the vessel's many elevators.
"Uh, do you need to accompany us, or--"
"No, no, it's more than alright. Go ahead. Please."
Maria was delighted to have successfully avoided a potential conflict. While she wasn't in the clear yet, she was facing better odds than before and had fairly successfully removed the threat of atomization-- or whatever it was their weapons did. She hopped into the elevator car, motioning for Kriok to join her.
Kriok followed, hesitantly. As soon as she entered, the doors closed and the elevator began its journey, somehow aware of their planned destination.
She looked at Maria, assessing her. While she was glad Maria had navigated past that fracas-- something she hadn't thought to do, the alien reminded herself, noting her continuing difficulty in social situations-- this was still another distraction.
"You are aware that this will be another delay." There was a twinge of irritation in Kriok's voice.
"Yes, but maybe if we talk it over with this Admiral we can explain our situation. Get him to help us out, you know?"
Kriok made a soft crooning noise to herself, an odd gesture of dissatisfaction with Maria's response. "I am sure he will be delighted to have me disassembling his vessel."
"You could offer to help him, maybe? Surely you can work something out. You've got all of that robot stuff, surely you could help out somewhere on this spaceship."
Before Kriok could protest that, despite her experience and extensive technical knowledge, she would not have familiarity with this specific vessel's subsystems and that it wasn't even a real spaceship, the elevator's doors whirred open, revealing the bridge of the ship.
Admiral Huxley, given his position as commanding officer, had numerous crises to attend to. Aside from the usual politics between crew-members, there was also the mission that he had been assigned-- a routine assignment, but one that needed careful attention and direction nonetheless.
He gazed out at the view-screen, looking at his target. The nebula before him, an enormous white cloud that angrily crackled with patches of interference akin to that of an old television, was impressive, to say the least. However, Huxley knew that the nebula was the hiding place of innumerable pirates-- the scum of the galaxy was within, likely engaging in all manner of crimes. Huxley knew that it was up to the brave crew of the ESS Pyreness to put a stop to the pirate's depravity and bring security to the stars.
As the bridge elevator opened, Admiral Huxley knew he had another task to attend to-- the business of the unexpected intruder. Despite Huxley's righteous crusade against piracy and the sinister Cordalian Empire, contact with new alien cultures was something that excited him. The prospect of adding another species as an ally of the Earth Republic only excited the commander more. He stood up, walking to the visitor and the ensign accompanying her.
"Ensign Maria. While your guest is certainly unexpected, I understand you're willing to vouch for her." He turned to look at the nerrin. Huxley was already intrigued just from the sight of her-- robots were common enough, but a cyborg was a rare sight. "And you are...?" He questioned, trailing off.
Kriok ignored the commanding officer, instead looking around the bridge. The entire set-up seemed inefficient-- they had declined to have a direct interface, instead having rows of crew manning various terminals. This entire array could be reduced down to a handful of crew if they used artificial intelligences rather than organic crew. She wondered what other peculiarities this vessel had as she scanned the bridge.
Admiral Huxley cleared his throat, attempting to get the alien's attention. "I never got a name." He said impatiently.
"Kriok."
"She's the last of her species, Commander. She's, uh, been through a lot." Maria added, hoping the comment would distract from the avian's callous disregard for his position.
"I'm... sorry to hear that. Is there anything we can provide? Anything to help rebuild your civilization?"
"Doubtful. I don't think anyone else survived."
Huxley thought about the other civilizations that had been extinguished by the cruel menace of the Cordalians. "I wish we could have arrived in time to prevent such a catastrophe. I'm truly sorry for your loss."
Kriok did not hear his sentiments. She was too busy examining the view-screen, looking at the nebula of howling static before her. Despite a change in locale, there was still a reminder that she was being scrutinized-- the static had been on every channel she had visited, and this was no exception. This channel would not be safe, not for much longer.
Kriok felt herself involuntarily getting tenser in response to this threat. She looked back at Maria, looking for a glimmer of recognition that they were in a perilous situation.
"Crackbird!"
Kriok whirled around to locate the source of the voice. Another member of the crew had just entered the bridge, but unlike Maria she recognized her from the introduction she had endured. The permanent black eye was a telling mark.
"Shit, look, I've been trying to find someone to talk to who's a contestant in this damn supers tournament, and I've sort of been through hell to get here. Look, can we just talk?"
"Lieutenant Freefall, is there something wrong?"
"Oh, shit, sorry Captain--"
"Admiral."
"--Admiral, right. Listen, I'll be back in a second, just got to talk to robo-bird here. You're okay with that, right Crackbird?"
"Kriok."
"Okay, great, let's go."
Before Kriok could complain about Freefall's vociferous behavior, she was yanked away to one of the elevators by Freefall, the door quickly closing after them. The alien and the superhero were now alone.
Maria silently cursed herself for missing a chance at talking to Freefall.