Exploring Heaven - Cloud Nine [ Open thread ]

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Don't worry, when we're done with her, nothing will be faster than The Messa." Kurt meant that too. He intended on making his ship the fastest in the galaxy. He was already pretty close to that, or he felt like he was anyway. His lips thinned for a moment as he thought about all that he had already poured into that ship, how much sweat and blood had gone into upgrading it. He loved that ship. It was odd, it hadn't been long since he'd gotten it but the Messa felt far more his own than the VCX-820 ever had.

"Maybe we should get a cloaking device." He mused. "Something fancy."

The idea amused him, though where they would get something like that was entirely beyond him.

When Kaile mentioned the view, his head panned slightly. She was right, it really was beautiful. Enough to make one think. "Yeah."

Kurt said with a simple smile on his face.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile would mull on this, amused.
"Ooo, fancy." she said, taking a forelock of his around her finger to play with it. "We could probably come up with somethin'. Hibridium is double blind though." she would mention, turning towards her general knowledge on potential stealth systems. "Stygium hard enough to gather and we ain't got no equipment to mine it."

Actually, how did a Yum Bunny waitress know this? Perhaps to Kurt, that was just who she was. Mechanically inclined. "I don't want to get rid of its nice shinny red color either," she'd add with a cheeky grin, playing with the lock of his hair a bit more.

"Could tinker with a few things." her brow furrowed. "Maybe we could build something."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Yeah, that would be easier." The problem was that Kurt and Kaile were still relatively poor. They didn't earn a lot of money, and what they did earn generally went towards food and other small things. The pilot didn't mind it really, it was how he had chosen to live. Money and fame were all well and good, but they would come at the cost of his privacy and freedom. He'd rather be poor and free, than rich and trapped. That was his biggest problem with Cloud Nine.

It still felt small.

"Maybe poke around Raxus." He mused. "That place has everything."

The junk world they called it.

He was sure that if they searched long enough they would be able to find something there, maybe an ancient piece of a cloaking device that would let them do what they needed. It wouldn't need to be perfect anyway, not like they needed to kill anyone. As long as they could still go fast while invisible it would work out, or so he thought. He mused for a moment more, then let out a slight yawn, his stomach now full and his eyes growing a bit tired.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Raxus. A good world to go on a salvage trip.

"That be a good couple of days," she would tell him, but agreeing none the less. "Reckon we'd have to go after the pit stop at Tatooine and your next run." Depending on how things went, they could start working on things.

Well, depending also on how Kurt would feel about things prior to.

Nervousness prompted her to nibble on her lower lip again. "I was thinking about some kind of tractor shroud." she would add, knowing that Silk Holdings had some kind of tractor shroud technology. With some of Kurt's runs, it was best to make sure he didn't get caught in one of them beams. The Messa was fast, but one rarely could outrun a tractor beam once they were caught. It was expensive, but she didn't think it would be too hard to come up with something similar with parts.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Oh, that idea wasn't half bad. A tractor shroud would help them in case a bigger ship came along, and with a ship the size of The Messa that happened quite a bit. He mused on that. The Navy had made tractor shroud when he had been there, he'd used one before. It wasn't really all that hard, all it tended to be was junk that got launched from the back of the ship so the bigger vessel couldn't lock onto the signature. Easy enough really, but he felt like he and Kaile could get more sophisticated.

"I can make that." He noted, sounding rather confident.

It wouldn't be too hard. "Yeah, actually. I can make it easy. I just need some parts from Tatooine."

He would need to scrounge some parts from his fathers garage, but that would be easy enough as it was. He could make moving drones, tracker drones that would create a different signature than The Messa, one that the tractor beams would lock onto instead of his ship.

Brilliant really, if unproven.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Glancing down at Kurt's and his certitude prompted a slight mammaquatia of a chuckle.

"Mmm...we both could do it easy. If we get all the parts from Tatooine, reckon could be done prior going to the Core Worlds then." her fingers would dribble down the side of his face in an idle drift. Her other hand would reach over to reclaim the ale. She brought it up high, bringing it close to her face to squint at the bottle.

"Tastes more like a lambic to me." she told him aloud finally, having processed her thoughts on the alcohol. She rotated her wrist slightly, looking at the back of the label. "Not enough alcohol content at all." a measly five percent.

Dropping her attention back at the pilot using her as a pillow, she gave a smirk. "I think I like the real thing better." another shake of her shoulders.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt smirked. "Well, you can have plenty of that back on the ship."

Oh how mature he was, how smart and funny.

Sometimes he impressed even himself.

Of course, beyond the silliness of their conversational turn, Kurt was still thinking of what exactly he could do to upgrade The Messa. The ship was his home, his project, everything to him now. He couldn't quite explain the passion for it, the idea behind building upon it. He had never had the urge before. Sure there had been his pod-racer, the thing that he had built from the ground up with his father but this was different. This was something he couldn't...well couldn't quite explain.

He liked The Messa, loved it, there was a passion behind it that simply drove him to do more.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Will you get me strawberries?" she was fishing, but it was in humor. A stroke of her finger would trace up his scruffy cheek and over his temple. "Chocolate covered strawberries?" now that sounded amaaaazing! The other four digits would join and then she was gently massaging over his brow line. Lorrdians were expressive creatures. Whether it was with their hands, their entire bodies, their eyes. Visual and tactile touch.

Chocolate covered strawberries were fairly expensive. Fresh fruit always was. Those were for special occasions. In this instance, she was willing to forgo the strawberries for the surprise she had. Hopefully he'd like it.

"Ever thought of Slave-Circuits?" like the ones for a ship. "Wouldn't be hard t'all to install."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Ew." Kurt said. "Slave circuits?"

His head shook from side to side. "What kind of man do you think I am?"

Slave circuits were well and good, but...they messed with systems in ways that Kurt would rather not have them messed with. Most people thought they were perfectly alright, that they didn't effect anything, but Kurt had flown ships that used Slave Circuits before. They created a buffer, not a big one, but a subtle one. The systems that required slave circuits became more sluggish, slower, the engines controls faded and everything else just seemed to be...well slower. That would be entirely against what The Messa was about, not that Kaile would necessarily know that.

"No no no." He objected. "No slave circuits getting near my girl."

"Those things are dreadfully sluggish." Kurt explained with a slow movement of his arm.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Kaile couldn't help but roll her eyes in amusement at Kurt's reaction. Figures he'd say that, she thought with a chuckle. An exaggerated gesture came with her raising her hands with banter, "Okay, okay! So no slave-circuts for Mister Speedy Marquess!"

Okay, so at least they had a few ideas. A tractor shroud first and then some sort of stealth jiry rig. Hmm, how would that work? The ale was set to the side by the remains of her sandwich. Belly full and sated, the former Yum Bunny snuggled up against her pillow, enjoying the warmth not only from the sun but of Kurt at her side.

There weren't exactly birds on Cloud Nine, but the occasional skycar would hum overhead. This was the nicest little vacation she had in a long while. She was glad that Kurt decided to stay a little bit longer after his last run. Her fingertips scratched lightly at his scruffy jaw.

"If we are rigging a stealth package prototype... with the power needed for it, don't expect immediate power up on weapons." she went back to the stealth, adding as an afterthought, "Or shields for that matter."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt shrugged.

"Not like that's a big deal." The shields were nice of course, and the weapons...well he had hardly touched the weapons since using the ship, but The Messa was fast enough that it could outrun and dodge pretty much anything that could fly at it. In fact he was entirely sure that he could beat the speed of a missile, and he had the maneuverability to work around a turbo-laser if it was shot at him. He frowned slightly, thinking about just how that scenario would go.

"Yeah." He finally said, making up his mind. "That would be fine."

They would just have to be careful about it. "What about adding a hot tub?"

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

Her heavy snort would burst into laughter, enough to shake the pilot from his soft perch on her person with how much her body shook from shaking. A hot tube?! Merriment went lancing through her heart-shaped face, and she couldn't help but nudge at Kurt's shoulder at that.

Silly man.

"A hot tub?!" another snerk, a twist of her lips in devilry. "Now that sounds like a thought. Reckon where would you put it at, hmm?" she gave a waggle of her eyebrows.

"By the galley? Oh, how about the middle of the lounge?" the Messa was still a very small ship. Where would they even be able to put it at?!

"Oh!" with notable mild amused sarcasm, "I know.. how about your bunk? I think it would be a suitable sacrifice for the upkeep of morale."

The twist of her lips grew impish.

"Reckon we can find you a proper incentive."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Oh I'm sure we could, but I was thinking we just replace the workout area." Kurt mused out loud.

A hot tub really was a rather brilliant idea. So brilliant that he cursed himself for not thinking of it before. Of course things would get rather complicated when he started pulling harder maneuvers, but hey not everything could be perfect.

Besides, Kaile had never minded getting a tad damp.

"We'll have to secure it somehow." Kurt mused, miming tying down the hot tub. "Maybe get some durasteel chains or something."

Yes. Durasteel chains, that would be the ticket. He was almost entirely sure that would work.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

He was being serious. Quite serious.

Another burst of laughter, and she shook her head. Yet his solid suggestion of replacing the workout area with a hot tub was quite entertaining.

And feasible.

This time, Kaile bit her lower lip with growing excitement. Her fingers would drum along his chest, an idle doddle as she would ponder. "That's one way of jiry rigging a hottub." they also had to consider getting a water tank.

"What about the water tank?" this was quite a bit of liters they were talking about, and a cistern for it would have to be placed somewhere. Likely refilled after every use whenever they stopped for fuel and the rest that they'd need.

"Nubia has loads of ships with hottubs as standards." if they could find a K-type to salvage. "... one of them K-types to salvage..." that wouldn't be too hard.

Although one could just grab your basic hot tub and just tinker with it until the damn thing fit.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt shrugged. Water added a lot of weight, but it's not like they didn't already have a tank on board the ship. The Varactyl had a small water tank for the sink and other things, though that water wasn't something one wanted to drink or shower with really, it was more in case of emergency. Perhaps if they got a more heavy duty water filter attached to that tank, maybe a recycler or something of the sort they would be able to use that water for the hot tub, then drain it and it would get filtered for...other uses.

Genius really.

Though, could they pull it off?

"What if we just make a new water recycler, something that will purify waste water and such." A bit gross, but she would understand what he was getting at. "From there it wouldn't be too hard to just have it be refillable...and the system would be self enclosed."

Sometimes Kurt impressed even himself.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

There wasn't much that could gross Kaile out. She had lived in the dregs of Nar Shadaa and Coruscant before. She also served on a long term mission aboard a ship that did the exact same thing. It made sense. She'll have to get into the internal schematics of the Varactyl, consider space and how to add a heavy water filter.

"We might be able to find one on Tatooine." already her mind was racing. This, was by far, one of the BEST ideas Kurt has ever had. Just imagining the fun... and oh to be able to soak!

Oh yeah, this is awesome.

"A heavy duty filter." with water being precious, recycling water along with the moisture evaporator was the norm. A chuckle erupted, and she lowered her eyes at the pilot using her as a pillow. The tips of her wavy hair tickling his face for a moment.

"Might end up being on Tatooine longer than just to eat up your ma's cookin'"

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Tatooine? It was at that moment that Kurt recalled that his parents owned a moisture farm, one of the biggest on Tatooine in fact. They had used the credits from his winnings of the Boonta Eve to grow the farm, buy droids, more equipment. He frowned slightly, thinking about what an idiot he was. Of course they could just ask his dad for the equipment they needed, heck, his dad could likely build them exactly what they wanted. The Pilot shook his head, letting out a laugh.

"My dad can do it." Oh yes, this was going to be beautiful.

Yep.

Best Idea he'd ever had.

Now all they had to do was get off Cloud Nine and head back home. There was so much to do now, so much that the two of the had planned out. A broad grin was plastered on his face, a wide smile that couldn't go away even if he tried to force it.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

"Well then..." bending down closer she popped an affectionate kiss by his temple. Then promptly came up and pushed at his shoulders. "Let's get dessert and we can start planning on all the upgrades."

This was exciting. It was fun. Not only were they going to upgrade the Messa some more, but she was going to be able to meet Kurt's family. Have a meal cooked by a mom. See how Kurt's dad would help them with the heavy duty filter. This could be great! Heck maybe they could go salvaging or barter hunting with the Jawas for a hottub.

Make that bit a realization a little sooner than later.

"Up you go Mistah Meyer, need to get that butt movin'."

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt swooped to his feet almost as fast as he could.

The prospect of a home cooked meal and the idea of going back to Tatooine had him rather excited. The thoughts they had had on The Messa made him even more so, and the twenty two year old was practically giddy as he jumped to a standing position. His hand's scooped Kaile up, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to her feet.

"Come on!" He said excited. "We gotta gooooooo!"

Clearly Kurt had just dug up a new bit of enthusiasm. "It'll take a day to get back home...maybe more, but lets see if we can't push that hyperdrive."

His words were said with a smirk.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

His excitement was fanning her own.

Without further ado, she grabbed her back and slipped it on. "Should be easy, especially with you piloting." She jumped to her feet, nerves practically dancing in glee.

"GAH!" enter her wiggle of fingers and ear splitting grin! Couldn't help it, the next instant she lunged at him, jumping with enough height to latch onto him like a little kid. Arms went round his neck, legs wrapped round his waist and she gave a laugh. If there was a twirl, her hair would go streaming around them both
This was great! This was perfect!

"Okay! Dessert!" she said with a mini-wiggle, wagging her brows at the pilot and a joyful grin. "Or do you want it later?"

She saved the credits, but if he realllly wanted to go now...

Maybe she could surprise him by making it later.