Firefly: Opportunity

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon wasn't really expecting to get any laughter from his comment. He did't really think that it was all that good even.

"Yes, I am Ronon." He answered. "Got a weapon that needs repairing, or have any customization ideas for your weapon, and I can do it. And you are the engineer, right?

As for the food, I've had worse, so I can't really complain."

[Lore_Master]

Malcom kept one eye open as Lawrence grabbed his food and sat down. He looked completely disgusted with eating the bean-paste. He was about to say something when Lawerence and Ronon, the resident weapon-expert began to have a conversation. He didn't feel the need to interrupt them, crew bonding was something he subtly encouraged during his day. Instead he returned his attention to the check-list by his side. He grabbed the clipboard before smirking.

"Sorry captain, I was never good at following orders..." He jokenly thought as he began to review the list. Even though he was told to relax, he still was a bit worried about the unchecked boxes. Surely Lyra can forgive for this? The most minor thing on the list was the medical supplies, they were getting close to their expiration date. After that, they wouldn't be as effective. That was something he could take care once they reach Lilac.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Lore_Master

[TotallyDrow]

Ezra stopped mid-training. His hand tightly clasped around one of the wooden dummy arms that every now and then 'threatened' to hit him round the back of the head. The ship was calm... a feat Ezra would have deemed impossible under their 'captain'.

 

This odd feeling of sailing smoothly through space was one he had not felt in a long time. While it wasn't a stomach churning experience... his dummy now lacked the ability to surprise Ezra with an involuntary swing caused by one of the frequent ship lurches.

 

Releasing his grip around the dummy, Ezra walked over to his bed and pulled down his top, putting it on before lowering it down to his gun holster. Checking that it was there, he made his way out of his room and down the hallway.

[RainDash]

Looking up from her latest project, Luna shifted up her goggles and sniffed. Bean paste? Hastily throwing down her tools, Luna disentangled from her project, throwing down her jacket and nearly running down the hall as she tried to get to the mess hall before the food ran out. She passed Ezra, waving as she ran. Her family would be upset if she skipped meals, and she was usually working until late, so when she did try and eat, everyone was asleep. She was happy though, at least she had people to talk with, and wasn't locked up all hours of the day.

 

"Hey, what's for dinner?" Luna asked, creeping inside. Bean paste was obviously what was on the menu for today, but she was mostly hoping to interact with the others. Hopefully they wouldn't be to upset that she interrupted. They shouldn't be, she had no way of knowing. Maybe if she tinkered with planting a bug in the mess hall she wouldn't have to make such awkward entrances, but the captain would think that it was the Alliance. Apparently, on this ship the 'purple bellies' were evil. Growing up on Ariel meant that the Alliance meant safety and security, but she supposed it was a trade off for freedom. She'd take traveling over going back to Ariel any day.

 

Not to mention the fact that she hoped they weren't looking for her. The captain wasn't the most trustworthy, but Luna had hopefully paid her enough to make sure no one asked any questions. No doubt there was at least one detective that had picked up on the flaw in her escape plan, quickly picking up on the rest. Maybe he would be sympathetic, letting her go free. Then again her family probably was paying well to keep him on the case. If there was a detective, which was a pretty big if. She'd be fine, she just couldn't go to Ariel was all.

[Narath]

((OOC: Rain, I just have to say that your avatar is awesome))

 

Ronon

 

"Beans and rice again." Ronon replied as Luna walked in.

Finishing up his own plate, he got up and began to get some more food. As he did so, he also took out another tray with a plate and handed it over to Luna.

"So what are you tinkering with now?" He asked.

[RainDash]

[Thanks!]

 

Gratefully taking the tray from Ronon, Luna sat down. "The laser gun I tried to make. I'm trying to," she shoveled down a spoonful of beans, "maximize the output." She continued, trying to speak around her food. She swallowed and thought about continuing. "I think that if I can re-wire the battery power, I can allocate more to the laser at once." She paused. "Then I can prolly cut through metal faster or through something more durable. The battery would be toast though." Luna finished and continued wolfing down her food, having forgotten breakfast and lunch earlier in the day. She should eat better, but she needed to finish the laser. If she left it then any ideas she had before would simply fly away.

 

Perhaps if she amped up the battery by adding more wattage? No, then the person would be stuck by a plug-in. Or hooked into an engine. Useless design. Too immobile. Perhaps if she replaced the wires with something more conductive... But then she'd have to surround it with plastic in order to keep it from frying the user. She'd need a heat gun, but it was unlikely that she would be able to grab one with all that was going on. Not to mention she'd injure herself more than she would actually be able to use the gun. Perhaps it was good that she went to eat, she'd be angrily yelling at the object until she made it work. Which would make her look crazy.

[Narath]

Ronon

 

"Have you thought of adjusting the energy emitters to make a more focused projectile?" Ronon asked, sitting down to begin his second helping. "I have a few other ideas too, as well as a lot of equipment for building and customizing weapons. If you want, I could give you a hand."

He now was after all, the ship's weapons officer. There wasn't anything he couldn't do with a weapon outside of reason. Nothing so far at least. Anyways, it was good to get acquainted with the others.

[RainDash]

"That could work. I don't know if I actually tweaked those or not. It'd be nice to know someone who knows how to fix weapons and stuff." being self taught meant that she only knew what she could find in the Cortex, or what she did through trial and error. The whole design was a cobbled together mess. Bits and baubles that she figured she could use, or salvaged from discarded laser guns. The junkyard was her heaven, she could find bits that she could assemble together into something new. She could use parts to replace others, a cracked lens on a perfectly fine camera could be replaced easily. Then she noticed Lawrence and Malcolm. "Sorry! This must be so boring for you!" She said, standing up. She took her tray, and thought about grabbing seconds. No, the crew needed the food more than she did, and she was okay. She was just a leech here right now, but if she could finish the gun, then maybe she could try and offer something more to the crew than just money.

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon gobbed down the last of his food, and put his dishes away.

"Why don't you bring your gun and whatever tools and equipment you need to my quarters?" He asked. "I have some things that could be of use there."

Some was a bit of an understatement. His room was filled with tools used for tweaking and building guns, and even more parts. If he wanted to, he could probably build a lightning gun or a plasma launcher.

[Lore_Master]

Malcom turned his head to Luna as he entered into the mess hall, carefully moving the clipboard out of sight from the other crew. From his initial impressions, Luna seemed to have a good head on her shoulder, even if he couldn't understand what she was talking about. As she talked with Ronon, he kinda understood what they were talking about. But he didn't know how someone would 'adjust the energy emitters'. To him, if it works, than he didn't need to know the details. In the back of his mind was his own laser pistol, one of the good ones from the Alliance military. He honestly didn't feel like having Luna 'adjust the energy emitters'. But it wasn't because he didn't trust her, its just a pet peeve of his.

"Nah, don't worry about it." Malcom said as he got up, with the clipboard and plate in hand. Once he placed the plate away, he began to make his way out of the room.

"I'm gonna try to find the captain, don't mind me." He said with a small smirk directed at Ronon. Part of him jokinly thought he was just simple a third wheel. Once he left the mess hall, he began to wander around the passageways.

[Mistress of Whispers]

While Xiao was aware of, but barely acknowledged the sudden smoothness of their ride, it had an altogether different effect on her stomach: no longer having to contend with constant near-nausea, her hunger reared up and her stomach growled uncerimoniously. Xia looked up from her papers to check the chronometer; by now, the dining room must have largely cleared out already. She rose gracefully and seemingly effortless despite being seated for so long - though a discerning observer might notice she favoured her right leg - and made her way to the mess hall.

[TotallyDrow]

Ezra barely acknowledged the girl running past, in fact it took him awhile to even remember that her name was Luna. It's not an exaggeration to say that Ezra barely knew anything about his fellow crew mates. His interaction with each crew mate was minimal... most of it being on missions where there was no other choice but to work alongside them. On opportunity, Ezra spent most of his time in his room, waiting for the next mission and next pay check. After several minutes, he reached his destination.

 

Ezra entered the cockpit, his pistol now in his hand and aimed directly at Jay. It clearly wasn't the captain flying 'Opportunity'...evident by how smooth the ship was currently flying... only Lyra was allowed to pilot the ship... despite her obvious lack of talent in that area.

 

"Turn around and step away from the controls", ordered Ezra, his hands gripped tightly around the gun.

 

Without weakening his aim, Ezra side stepped to the left and with one hand pulled the alarm, causing a loud wailing siren to echo through the ship.

 

"I don't care who you are... it was a foolish idea to think that you could hi-jack this ship" spoke Ezra, stepping forward. "Get down on one knee and place both hands behind your head... the captain will be here shortly".

[Biologist]

Jay did not look away from his instruments, although the presence of the gun made him a bit nervous. In a gruff voice, annoyance clearly shining through, he answered: "Hijack? That's crazy talk. You think that's funny, you aughtta git yerself a new sense o' humour. If you don't like my flyin', take it up with my new boss. The captain. Either way I suggest you put the gorram gun away 'fore we got ourselves a hull breach and git the hell outta my cockpit. And turn off the darn noise." Trying to keep it cool, he focused on the controls and the infinite black of the 'Verse in front of him. He hated guns being pointed at him.

[RainDash]

Luna was about to accept Ronon's offer when the alarm rang. What was there an alarm for again? Was it for intruders? She jumped out of her seat like a scared rabbit and fled down to her room. Though it had been nice to be out and about, she knew that it was far more intelligent to hide. Especially if it really was some detective. He had to be pretty intent on finding her, because he hopped a ship from the outside or maybe he hid away? As her thoughts ran away with her, she nearly ran over Xiao. Half of the people on the ship, when looked up, we're either brown coats or seemingly fake.

"Sorry!" Luna said, slowing down. She hoped the other woman would just go around her or avoid her. If Luna could just avoid talking with anyone too long she could keep up appearances. While signing up for the ship, she nearly signed her real name. Plus, saying that she was in favor of the Alliance would probably equal being spaced right there and then.

Edited October 2, 2013 by RainDash

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon cursed as the alarm went off, and bolted to his room. When he got there, he cursed again as his pistol was not completely put back together, which meant that it was out of commission. Grabbing his sword, he kept it drawn and ran to the bridge where he expected to find the captain, but was greeted by the ships passenger and Ezra.

"What is going on here?" He asked.

[Mistress of Whispers]

Xiao was half way to the mess hall when the alarms went off. For a moment she stood transfixed, her breathing became more shallow and rapid, and then she was amidst death. The air raid alarm was sounding, but it was too late to give any real warning as bombs fell around them. Still they fought, even as kicked-up ash from dirt and flesh obscured the sky and bathed the valley in twilight. Then the burning began and people started running. One of the corpses stumbled into Xiao; pieces of green hair sticking to a charred and peeling scalp. "Sorry," it said. Xiao started - that seemed like an odd thing to say for a dead girl. Shaking her head, she tried to focus and slowly recognized a fellow passenger from the Opportunity.

 

"Yes," she said by way of a non-response, her voice sounding far-off as she still struggled to return her senses to the here and now.

 

 

((OOC: RainDash, Xiao is not the medic yet - right now she's just a rather reclusive passenger.))

[Lore_Master]

Once the alarm went off, Malcom cursed underneath his breath as he drew his pistol. Calmly making his way to the cockpit, wondering what the hell is going on. Once he got there, he saw Ezra pointing a gun at Jay. He must have been the guy Lyra told him about, the one they picked up. Ronon was also there, holding a sword. Malcom still got intimated by Ronon, mostly because of his size. But then a funny thought hit his head, this was all just a big misunderstanding. Trying to holding in his chuckle, he moved towards Ezra.

"Ezra, stand down please." Malcom said with a cool, authoritarian voice despite a breaking smirk.

"He was placed at the helm by the Captain, she even told me as much in the mess hall." Seeing that his gun was not needed, he calmly placed his pistol back in its holster. He went over to the alarm and turned it off, no need to let it ring any longer.

Once that was done, he went over to the intercom before turning it on.

"This is First Mate Malcom Bution. False Alarm everyone, I repeat, False Alarm. You may now go back to sleep or your book or whatever you are doing." Hw said, addressing the situation before turning it back off.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Lore_Master

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon grunted in affirmation, and slung his sword and sheath over his back.

"A little jumpy, aren't we?" He said as he walked back out the door.

Now, what was he doing before the alarm? Ah yes, he was going to help out Luna to fix up her gun. When he got do the door of her quarters, he rapped his knuckles against the cold steel.

"Hey, it's Ronon. You still up for working on that gun together?"

[Biologist]

Jay was less than happy with a trigger happy crew member. In his experience they tended to go haywire after a while and when that happened, he wanted to be far away from them. He had seen it happen too often..

 

Almost as an afterthought he added: "One more thing. I don't know if y'all are new to this flying in a space ship, but you never *ever* use guns when you're flying in the black. Apart from the possible ricochet, we're flying a tin can with atmosphere and a cosy temperature through the cold vacuum of the 'verse. All that separates the inside from the outside is a few inches of metal. If you go shootin' yer guns, you're gonna puncture that tin can and all the inside gets sucked out into the outside. We don't want that to happen. Keep the inside on the inside and the outside on the outside. Got it? Guns are for when we're planetside. If we ever meet a real enemy on board, use yer fists or a knife. Or yer imagination."

 

After his small lecture, he looked both men in the eye a moment to see if they got it. Then he turned back to finetuning the Opportunity to make her run as smoothly and optimally as possible.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Biologist

[RainDash]

[Fixed it.]

 

That... Wasn't really an answer. Not that she was looking for one, but she wasn't expecting a 'yes'. She sighed and tried to move away from her, now slightly paranoid that so one knew she was lying. Maybe Xiao could read minds, maybe that was why she was so reclusive. Maybe someone else could read minds. She headed back to her room, seeing Ronon knocking on her door. Wait, did she have anything that could ruin he cover? Her initials were on the side of the gun, and this alias was recent… "I was going to talk with the captain, actually." Luna quickly lied. "Ishouldgonow, bye!" She moved to where she hoped the captain's quarters were. Well where she hoped they were. Why couldn't they be at Lilac already? She should have been in her quarters earlier, but now she was lying and lying was wrong.

 

If she screamed in frustration Ezra or someone would misconstrue the scream for distress of the physical kind. She wondered how long it would be until she had to go to the hospital for an ulcer. At this rate, not very long. She sat down in the hall, sulking in a hidden corner. Maybe if she could rig up some kind of invisible cloak she could avoid stressing herself out. Then again, maybe the image of her spouse being murdered by her bothered her. If she could keep telling herself he had it coming, maybe then the disgusted feeling would vanish.

[Narath]

Ronon

 

Ronon was shocked by Luna's sudden appearance, and disappearance.

"Um... okay." He said, unsure of how to react. "Goodbye."

As he made his way back to his quarters, he could not help but think;

'What the heck was that?'

Tossing his sword onto his bed as he re-entered his room, he went back to word adjusting his gun. Though it was an energy gun, it still took as much care to keep it in working order as a projectile weapon.

[TotallyDrow]

Ezra clicked his gun, showing his intent as he ignored Jay's words. Of course a hijacker would try to talk their way out, and without actual knowledge of this new 'appointment' from the captain or first mate, there was no chance he was gonna just put the gun down.

 

It was only when Malcom confirmed the passengers story, that Ezra eased up, putting the safety back on his pistol and sliding it back into its holster. After Jay's lecture about gun safety on the ship, Ezra turned and left. Not even uttering a word as he disappeared down the hall way.

[Lore_Master]

Malcom soon found himself to be the only one besides Jay left in the cockpit. Resting his arms on top of the chair, he looked down at the pilot.

"Sorry for the welcoming party, I guess the Captain forgot to mention to everyone else that you were our new pilot... Or maybe she expected me to tell everyone..." He pondered, shifting his eyes to the various little switches and dodads.

"Honestly, I can never fully tell what goes through her head." He added, before finally lifting himself away from the chair.

"Anyway, the Captain is probably gonna be a bit miffed, so I'm gonna find her." He said, walking through the only door that led out of the cockpit.

[Mousia]

Lyra laid down in her bunk, hands resting softly on her stomach. Sound echoed through the metal recessed of the ship, broadcasting the conversation from the mess into her bunk softly. They spoke about some technology that the captain only vaguely understood. Lasers were a weak man's weapon. She was of the opinion that more valor could be found in a man dying due to lack of ammo than running out of batteries. Chuckling softly at the thought, she rolled over and laid flat on her stomach, groaning with effort. Her eyelids were heavy, but she couldn't bring herself to sleep. Sitting up, she set her eyes on the dartboard that hung near the map of the 'verse.

Just as she drew her arm back in preparation to through a dart, the alarm went off, sounding loud and clear throughout the ship. Dropping the dart, Lyra grumbled and grabbed her gun. Just as she had opened the hatch to climb back up onto the main walkway, Malcolm's call of a false alarm sounded and she ground her teeth. The captain didn't expect such a response to a new pilot, though, in hindsight, it was her own fault for forgetting to forewarn the remainder of the crew.

Setting the gun down on her cot, the woman climbed up onto the main pathway that all the crew's quarters were located on. Closing the door by punching in a code, she leaned on the wall and sighed, crossing her arms. She could see her first mate through the corner of her eye, but if he wished to talk to her, he'd have to initiate the talking, because admitting her mistake would be like death to her.

[Lore_Master]

Malcom looked around, trying to find the Captain. She was really good at hiding herself when she wanted too. Either by luck or coincidence, he found the Captain leaning against the wall near the crew's quarters. Walking up to her, he straightened his posture before standing still.

"Ah, there you are Captain. I've been looking for you for awhile." Malcom said with a small smile on his face. Never taking his eyes off hers, he began to think of what he was gonna say to her.

"I was looking for you early... unfortunately I forgot why that was, but there is a second reason why I was looking for you. Its in regards to the alarm that was sounded about a few minutes ago. Apparently Ezra didn't get the memo that we got a new pilot. This resulted in Ezra threatening him, with his gun. Luckily besides a blow to Ezra's ego, nobody was injured." He explained, smirking at the scene that played in his head. But his attention went to Lyra's facial expression. She looks a bit worried that he would call her out for not telling everyone else.

"... I do apologize Captain, my lack of communication with the crew resulted in this situation." Malcom said, deciding to be the one to take the fall for this.