Stellar Legionnaires (Private)

[PerroCarne]

The smile that came over Calhoun's face was one that would have screamed of memories. "It sounds a bit like Leeri." He moved towards the screen to look at him himself. "Let's call Ri'al. I want to know if this is a hit job or what it is. Details and rewards." He answered her, finally.

Cartwright glanced towards Tsare. "I can fly this and park this anywhere you want. I flew for the Army back in the day; and they don't skimp on training like the humans do." He looked around. A smile would have crossed his face if he had had lips. "Plus... Vishe vehicles are about as agile as you can get."

[Altissa]

Arizona nodded, typing on the computer quietly as she tried to make the connection for communication. She glanced over at Calhoun and questioned, "Query: What, who, or where is Leeri?" The woman's question wasn't meant to be invasive, just making conversation as she found Ri'al.

Tsare shrugged a little, "Well, humans might be slack, but my race certainly isn't. Well, they're more slack then they used to be since, uh....Never mind. Yes, I'm not terribly surprised that this sort of ship can move, though I was a bit surprised that it could walk. How long can it do that, anyway?" He asked.

Arizona interrupted Tsare and Cartwright, "Statement: Connection made. I'm putting Ri'al through now." She hit a few other buttons, then added as an afterthought, "Comment: I hope that it is a hit." She grinned with more than a little bloodlust, which earned her a funny look from Tsare.

[PerroCarne]

Calhoun glanced at her. "It's my home planet." He answered, "What is left of it." He was still staring at the description of the planet; maybe he missed his home, or maybe he was fighting every memory of it that he still retained from coming back.

Cartwright cocked his head slightly at the question. Seeming to mull over what the other was saying in an attempt to come up with something reasonable to say. "We've never lost a war where we are given wings and ships." he offered, "So I'd say ours is better. And... I would say it can walk fo--" He went silent when Arizona said that the channel was open.

On the other end of the line, what seemed to be a human answered the call. "Calhoun! I thought you had died on Brytt." He chimed, "Lordy, Lordy, scaring the living s**t out of your best old pals, right? Federation all the way, am I right? And Arizona. Looking as beautiful as ever! Almighty, it's great to hear from you."

"Arizona, keep the man to business. He knows we don't call for pleasure."

((Just for clarification, Cartwright is totally unable to speak the 'common tongue,' but he can understand it. XD So everything he says is technically in the insectoid language of clicks, purrs, etc. ^^))

[Altissa]

(Oh! Hahaha, then Tsare probably doesn't understand him, uh....At all. Not even kind of. XD This dude's funny, by the way. )

Arizona nodded, filing away the new information about Calhoun's planet to ponder over or bother him about with later. She glanced at Cartwright when he got quiet, though, wondering if the insectoid was shy or just trying to be polite.

Tsare tilted his head as the human talked, taking in his appearance and raising an eyebrow at Calhoun upon hearing 'Federation'. This man certainly wasn't what he'd have expected as a friend of Calhoun's, nor had he expected Arizona to have any friends at all. Judging from the look on Arizona's face, though, she didn't count the human as that.

"Observation: You're awfully thrilled to see us." She commented mildly. When Calhoun told her to get the man to cut it out, though, she grinned wickedly and told the man with no small amount of pleasure, "Statement: I can electrocute you from here. Please do remain more focused in the rest of this conversation."

Tsare looked at Arizona again, then leaned to murmur in a deadpan tone to Cartwright, "Well, isn't she a sweetheart.".

[PerroCarne]

((Rotfl! We'll get him a translator soon so that everyone can understand him. ^^))

Cartwright had just been attempting to be polite and also seemed to tip his head in confusion at the statement about the Federation. It didn't seem like something that the Vishe would be involved in. In fact, it didn't seem like anything that anyone on this ship would be involved in.

The Federation was a group of rebel forces trying to force a truce between every race. It wanted every planet to act as a small governing body and the galaxy as a whole would be one organized unit. In fact, though they probably hadn't realized it, the construction of it was extremely similar to the "state" and "national" government system of Old Earth's United States, but on a much grander scale.

Ri'al cleared his throat. "We're having a bad day I see. I had one myself yesterday-- no... must have been Monday. Terrible day, all these people came running around, talking about the Federation like I knew anything about it. Right? Lordy. I almost died. I ain't shittin' you!" The man was almost famous for going off on little tangents whenever he talked, and Calhoun made it clear that Arizona wasn't supposed to kill him, though a bit frazzled wouldn't bother the Vishe.
"Anyway. You must be callin' for a reason right? No one calls to see this beautiful mug anymore. Used to have me a girl, damn Liberators told her I was one of them. Dumped me on the stop. You're lookin' for a job, huh? Got a rag-tag team I see. Insectoid? Never seem them around on their own. He get kicked out of the force? And what's that pupilless fellow behind you?" He seemed to crane his neck. "And that freckled girl. She looks human. I didn't know you talked to humans 'cept me, lovely."

The man's eyes weren't deceiving him, just beyond Calhoun's flicking tail, a girl was standing in the doorway. Her hair was in pig tails that fell over her shoulders and she was covered in grease and oil from head to toe. She did nothing but stare at them, silent and unmoving, save for a wrench in her hand which she put behind her back.

[Altissa]

Arizona typed in quietly as Ri'al droned on, already bored since there was no fight going on. The shocks would barely be noticeable at first, as she tested the strength of the shocks. She didn't want to do any serious damage; that wouldn't get them the information that they needed, and without the information there was no reason to really put up with the man's yapping. Instead, she tapped her foot and raised an eyebrow. "Directive: Ri'al, we just want to know about that bounty on Zinari. Have you any more information about it?" She asked flatly.

Her interest was barely on the human, though Tsare perked up considerably. "Well! Hello there, lovely. I'd imagine that you're the mechanic for this ship, aren't you love?" Apparently, he was pretty thrilled to find a female that wouldn't kill him...Probably. His greeting was ridiculously polite and it was clear that he was trying to make a good impression.

Arizona told Ri'al flatly, "Statement: I didn't know that she was here. Her presence is currently irrelevant to our current goal, however. About that bounty..?"
Tsare murmured to the mechanic with a slight grin, "Don't feel bad. She doesn't like anyone."
"Objection: I am fond of both Cartwright and Calhoun, and I've nothing against this human. I only hate you." Arizona responded bluntly.

(Sorry it's short-ish. ^_^; I don't have my rambling character yet. XD)

[PerroCarne]

((lol! Don't worry about it. No one has to compete with Ri'al's babble. XD))

Ri'al cocked his brow slightly while he listened to her statements. "Alright. Alright. Lemme look into it, alright?" He spun around in the chair that he was sitting at and grabbed something behind him, flicking the screen when he turned back around. His eyes raised to Arizona and then glanced back down to the machine.

"Alright. The Zinari project is a hit. You're looking for a fellow named... Briton Creed. He's known to be extremely volitile and .... well.... general unfriendliness. You give me a few credits, I'll send you the rest of the information. Nice ship by the way, Calhoun. Looks like you finally landed one of your own. You going by captain yet? Wasn't that what you were in the--"

"Arizona. Keep him focused." The Vishe's tail flicked with irritation,"Transfer him twenty credits."
"TWENTY?! Lord, Calhoun. You have gotten stodgy in your old age, eh? A man can't even live on twenty credits anymore. This one time I was at the store and I spent /twenty/ credits on just a hotdog. HOTDOG. It was luke warm and I've never been back to that place. Some species don't know how to make their dogs, you know? Anyway, I'm going to need more than twenty."
"Link him thirty. If he wants more, we'll take our business elsewhere." The icey eyes of the Vishe were still resting on the mechanic who glanced around at the group, slowing seeming to process what was going on.

Despite all of the words being thrown around her, she said nothing. She stared at Tsare; she glanced at Calhoun; she even eyed Arizona and the Insect who seemed disinterested in her. Her eyes moved back to Tsare after a long moment and she smiled, finally nodding to answer his first question. She was the mechanic -- and didn't seem too concerned with having been in essence kidnapped from the female Vishe they had run across.

[Altissa]

(Hahaha, I love Ri'al. XD Also, your quest bar is broken. o_o; )

Arizona tilted her head with Ri'al glanced at her, clearly not understanding why he would do that. The woman wasn't very used to superfluous interaction, like the human's babbling or Tsare's flippant maner. To her, you did what you needed and then what was needed after that as directed by your leader. Arizona wondered what drove Calhoun to do what he did, then caught herself glancing at him just as Ri'al had glanced at her. She shook off the confusion and returned her gaze to Ri'al attentively.

Every word that he said was mentally filed away, until she realized that he was talking to Calhoun and not about the hit. She was a little irritated, but filed this information as well, while she had it. When had Calhoun been a Captain before? She'd just have to keep that query in stasis until there was a more appropriate time to ask. Tsare was far too interested in the human girl to care that his captain had a past.

When ordered to keep him focused, Arizona sent another little shock and frowned at Ri'al, then nodded, "Directive Acknowledged: Transferri-" She broke off when Ri'al yelled, twitching and changing the amount to thirty credits. "Success: Thirty credits transferred. Request: Please make haste, Ri'al. I'm getting restless." The urge to fight was like an itch, and the woman was even drumming her fingers on the desk. She didn't often chat in an information-gathering conversation like this, but the need to fight was just too much.

Tsare was pretty happy that he'd earned a smile from the human, then walked over to chat with her. "My name is Tsare. What's yours, love?" He asked politely, then smiled in a manner that he hoped was charming. He'd learned long ago that when dealing with humans, it was best not to grin. They tended to take the gesture of his teeth showing as a threat of some sort, so he made sure to keep his lips together when he smiled.

[PerroCarne]

((I think I fixed it! =D))

"Sparky." The girl answered Tsare. Her voice was rather rough, like she had never spoken to anyone without motor oil and sweat caked onto every inch of her body. Despite that however, she seemed quiet - nervous even, like a child who couldn't figure out exactly what she wanted to do with this whole encounter. "You bought the ship?"

"We have it." Calhoun answered the human and then moved over, touching Arizona's shoulder to move her out of his way so that he could lean down to look at Ri'al. "If we don't get that information in the next hour, we will come find you and you will be short limbs. Now, focus, Ri'al. I only have enough pacience to deal with one fool at a time, and we've got at least two on this ship."

Ri'al's eyes widened slightly and he nodded. "It should be there in no time, Calhoun. It was good talking to you. Good luck with your ship - I hear those babies are beautiful as can be, but they aren't made to fly in space much - mostly around their own planet. I mean, you'd know that better th--" The screen flickered off as Calhoun hit the button to end the communication.

His tail flicked again and he glanced back at the girl and then to Arizona. "Arizona, figure out what she can do. If she's no use.... we'll..." -- 'space her' was where he had been going with it until his eyes landed on the gentle, confused brown ones of the human. Somewhere in his heart, the warrior in him was replaced with the father -- "drop her on the next planet we land on."

[Altissa]

(You did! ^_^)

Tsare smiled at her name, obviously immediately fond of the girl. Arizona just rolled her eyes; now the man was just going to be focused on that instead of their work.

"Clarification Request: Two?" Arizona raised an eyebrow, wondering who he'd meant. Sure, Tsare counted, but who was the other one? She paused, then added gleefully, "Request: If we do remove limbs, may I help?"

She looked to Cartwright when the ship's issues with long space flights was mentioned, hoping that he wouldn't have any problems with that. It would be absolutely awful to end up in space with a useless ship, and while she could just shut down and wait it out, the others probably couldn't.

Tsare looked ready to protest at Calhoun's wanting to leave the girl behind, but he shut up when Arizona walked over to Sparky and gestured towards the room behind this one. "Request: Would you mind if we talked privately about just what it is you do on this ship? I have..Personal queries in regards to your mechanical abilities as well." The latter was said quietly and with no small amount of embarrassment.

[PerroCarne]

Sparky smiled at the way that the man acted towards her. She didn't seem to care that he was pupilless. She didn't seem to care about any features that seemed odd. "You are a mechanic too?" she asked, raising her hand to her face to rub away the grease, but just left more on it. As she lowered her hand, pulled on the strap of the thin straps she wore. They would have appeared to be suspenders, but they were over her jacket.

Calhoun smiled at her. "The human. And yes. of course, Arizona. I would have it no other way." He looked towards the insectoid. "Head towards Zinari. How long until we get there?"

Cartwright turned and answered, "Nearly a week, sir."

Calhoun nodded slowly. "We'll get you a translator. Either this girl will make you one or we'll buy one when we drop her off."

Cartwright's eyes remained trained forward. Maybe if he were human, he would have looked sad that the Captain also couldn't understand him, but as it stood, he looked entirely indifferent about the whole matter.

Sparky let herself be lead off when Arizona took her arm. "You're an android..." she pointed out as they walked, "Good model. Very realistic. Are you malfunctioning in some way?"

[Altissa]

Tsare shook his head and laughed nervously, "Oh, not really. Just....A guy. Good with cards, though. Excellent, even." He paused when Calhoun said 'the human', and shook his head, "I don't think she's a fool! Just...A little shy, maybe."

Arizona beamed when Calhoun smiled at her and agreed that if it came to it, she would be allowed to help with any violence. When Calhoun didn't understand, though, she shook her head and offered, "Statement: I can serve as a translator until he receives one if you'd like, sir. He said that it would be nearly a week." She nodded, then smiled over at Cartwright and added to him in his language, "Commentary: You're always welcome to talk to me, you know." She seemed to be in a much better mood now that they were on their way to a hit.

She turned to the human and shrugged shortly when she was told that she was a good model. "Statement: I serve my purpose, and as far as my appearance goes, that is all that matters." She muttered. Tsare didn't seem to have heard, though he waved after the human with an absolutely smitten look on his face. Arizona rolled her eyes; some fleshies were such idiots! "Elaboration: Malfunctioning...Yes, I believe so. You see, my previous owner died, but I was restarted before my memory was completely cleared, so I remember some parts of the ownership before....Er. Anyway, is there anyway to restore the data?" She was obviously hopeful.

[PerroCarne]

"Oh." The mechanic murmured blinking as she was defended from an insult that she hadn't completely processed yet. "You are quite nice..." she glanced back as he waved when she started to leave and waved back at him, assuming that was a model of what she was supposed to be doing.

"I can restart you so that you have no memories at all... Or I can try to revive the memories from your past ownership. Is that what you would like?" She glanced back at Calhoun. "Do you... like him?" There seemed to be no understanding behind her words - they were stated as if she were a five year old who had heard her mother say them to a friend..

Calhoun glanced at Cartwright and let out a frustraited grumble. "Damn it... Well, take her as fast as she can go. You." He pointed at Tsare, "Come with me. You're going to be useful on this ship somehow. Can you cook?"

[Altissa]

Tsare just grinned at the compliment, and Arizona huffed. "Advice: I wouldn't trust him if you. He seems to be a 'horn-dog'." As far as memories went, the only ones before escaping that she possessed were those of her creator, and those had been so long ago...

She shook her head frantically at all of her memories being wiped. "Negative: I would not be useful at all if I were wiped. I can not serve my purpose to deal with targets if I do not remember how to hold a gun!" At the other question, though, Arizona tilted her head, "..Query: Like? He is my current owner. I may not dislike him. He is pleasant as far as masters go, I suppose." Arizona paused for a long moment, then grinned, "Elaboration: I like fighting, though."

Tsare nodded and grinned, "That I can! Particularly spicy food. I can made bland stuff too, I guess. And drinks." It was pretty obvious what kind of drinks that Tsare meant.

[PerroCarne]

Calhoun nodded. "Good. You know how to make Vishe drinks and Insectoid juice? They don't eat at all, so you'll have to be able to make that. What do you eat -- a human diet?"

The mechanic listened to her and slowly nodded. "He seems nice." She answered after a long moment, not seeming to understand what the word meant - or any of its implication. "I have not seen his species before...." Then her attention shifted back to the discussion of 'fixing' Arizona.

"You would like your memories from your past owners restored?" she asked, and watched the androids expressions as she spoke. "He is a handsome man, I suppose. For a Vishe. They are prone to aggressive outbursts..."

As she wormed through the ship, having taken the lead over from Arizona, they ended in the engine room were a mechanical engine made from metals that Earth had never known whirls and glowed. There was something about it that looked magical - but the Vishe's equipment seemed to have that tendency. She kicked one of the panels and it opened for her before she reached in and pulled out a box.
Gently, she set down the wrench that she had been holding, whispering something affectionate towards it as she opened the toolbox. Unlike the tools she would have used to repair the engine, these were smaller. "We can fix you now... if you'd like..."