Mission To Sprocket

[Eralam]

Eralam didn't usually travel with an entourage. In fact, he rarely traveled with anyone, not when he could help it. The Shard was the solitary sort, preferring his own company to that of others. And yet, here he was, waiting in a spaceport outside a largish freighter retrofitted for science and exploration on the cheap. It was old, and while the ship itself was solid and the instrumentation reasonably well calibrated, there was no denying that he'd gone to the bargain bin for this one.

The name didn't help either.

"What in the hell is a Screaming Turkey and why the hell do I need one?" he muttered to himself.

The ship's size and age mandated a crew, and the fact that this mission had the potential to be fairly high profile kept Eralam from staffing it solely with Shards. The Network was still struggling to remain underground after their uncharacteristic humanitarian effort during the recent invasion of Coruscant, and the last thing they needed was another bout of high profile exposure. With that in mind, the old Iron Knight had put out the call for a small crew of explorers and adventurers.

He wasn't terribly worried about their motives for joining the mission. Whether they sought fame and glory or wanted to claim resources, he could care less. He just needed them to do their jobs.

The only reason he was personally going on this mission was because of some odd rumors that made it to him about the target planet.

Sprocket, as it was called, was the home of a rare droid-centric society where organics were subservient to their mechanical masters. The natives could handle the presence of organics, just so long as there was a proper droid in charge of them. Eralam wasn't technically a droid, but he did ride in a droid chassis, and he doubted the natives would be able to tell the difference.

The ship was already loaded with the supplies they'd need for the adventure. All he needed now was the crew.

[member="Aera Varad"] | [member="Duncan Pierce"] | [member="Titan Kryze"] | [member="Zee"] | [member="Cait Falcor"]

 

[Duncan Pierce]

"The Black Hawk" landed in the space port, Duncan prepared his equipment and activate the landing ramp, he exit his ship and walked towards what it looked like an assassin droid

"I'm assuming you're [member="Eralam"]
My name is Duncan Pierce, i signed for the expedition to the planet Sprocket, if you need a pilot for the... "Screaming Turkey"..." Duncan chuckled after reading the name
"I'm your man, also i don't know if this planet is hostile or not, but i bring my equipment, i have a Blaster Rifle WESTAR-M5, a Blaster pistol SE-14C and if we need to make an escape i have six smoke bombs"

[member="Aera Varad"] / [member="Titan Kryze"] / [member="Zee"] / [member="Cait Falcor"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Two Days Ago:

Hmmm, she looks pensive. Wonder what's going on over there? ​Cait watched as Zee set to organizing the hold for the third time in two days.

Zee lugged another crate of supplies up out of the hold, hoisting it more like a set of weights than anything else. Though her eyes and body seemed focused on the task, there was obviously something more on her mind. Maybe it was the grim set of her mouth as she shifted the crate across the floor. Maybe it was the incredibly aggressive organizing. It definitely wasn't because she was talking about it. Probably had to do with the fact that she'd just been awakened from centuries long stasis and everything she thought she knew was long gone and nothing she'd done in her life had any meaning. That would mess with most people. Granted, if she wouldn't talk about it, well. Hard to work on something if all you did was move boxes around.

"Whatcha thinking?"

Zee grunted as she hefted another crate, hauling it around next to its brother. She paused, wiping sweat out of her eyes. Her short, blonde hair was plastered to her face. For a long moment, she just looked at Cait. A dead, distant look in her grey-green eyes. Then she blinked, slowly coming back from wherever her mind had been. It took a moment to parse the question, and then another to decide on exactly what she was going to say.

"Wondering how I'm going to pay to replace my armor," she finally said.

Cait grinned widely. Zee was pretty sure that was a bad sign.

"Boy howdy have I got a deal for you!"


Now:

"We're signing on to The Screaming Turkey? What even *is* that?" Zee hissed at Cait.

Zee and [member="Cait Falcor"] headed toward the rendezvous with their new employer, the petite blonde still on the fence about the whole thing. The pair walked up toward the ship in question, the most incredulous look on Zee's face imaginable. She didn't even try to hide it.

Both carried with them everything they'd need for their job as hired Security and Mechanical Support. If Zee's rifle looked like an antique, well, she thought that maybe it would match the ship they were setting out on and really, who was going to say boo to her about it? She had assured herself that it was in fine working order, doing the small repairs time had necessitated on it herself.


Aera Varad / Titan Kryze / Cait Falcor / [member="Duncan Pierce"] / [member="Eralam"]

 

[Titan]

Titan walked out onto the deck, he saw the shard who had offered him the job, something about a robot world and a screaming turkey. Titan was still very, very, confused on that part. He saw the security people, [member="Zee"] and [member="Cait Falcor"], it always paid to look into your collaborators if you could. He walked and his longer stride caught up to the people in front of him. "So, do you guys know what the 'screaming turkey' is?"



[member="Duncan Pierce"] [member="Eralam"]

 

[Eralam]

It didn't take much work to keep a straight face, seeing as how his face was completely immobile, but if it wasn't, Eralam would have been hard pressed to keep from cracking a grin. He didn't have the heart to tell the poor souls that they had enough firepower in the arms locker to fight a small scale insurgency. He had leaned on [member="Rusty"] pretty hard to get a few crates of his goods. If things well and truly went to hell, they'd be able to fight their way out.

For his part, he had on his usual gun belt, with his Colt revolver on his right hip in a crossdraw holster and his rapier-like lightsaber sitting in its truncated scabbard on his left. It was probably for the best that they didn't show up with some of the most high tech weapons in the galaxy right off the bat. This was supposed to be a peaceful, exploratory mission.

As the others approached, the Shard started his briefing.

"First and foremost, welcome to the Screaming Turkey. No, I have no idea what the hell that's supposed to mean. I think the original owner was a fan of the Dantooine Plains Turkey or something."

He shook his head for a moment, like a bantha shooing away flitnats.

"We're going into unknown territory, ladies and gentlemen. The target system is a place known only as Sprocket. Intel is spotty, but we think it's the home of a droid-centric society. Organics are kept as slave labor, because the universe has a keen sense of irony and is desperate to show off every now and again. When we get there, we're gonna have to wing it, because that's literally all we know. The only data we have came from a probe droid that made a low pass before exiting the system. There are a couple of low orbit satellites, but there's no signs of any sort of exploratory space travel. We suspect that they know it's possible, but the secret to it has been lost. in the event that we have to fight our way out, we're gonna stick together and play it safe. No grandstanding, no heroics. We'll discuss combat roles more in depth when we're in space and have a chance to get to know each other. Is everyone here?"

[member="Titan Kryze"] [member="Zee"] [member="Duncan Pierce"] [member="Cait Falcor"]

 

[Zef Halo]

"...Is everyone here?" The metallic voice of the ironborn was the first thing Aera heard as she finally made it to the dock where the gathering of the crew was to happen.

"Yes!" She uttered loud enough for the ironborn to hear as she halted her pace to stand next to the rest of this ragtag crew.

Late.

As always.

It was either a really bad habit or a curse, the Mandalorian did not know. She just knew it wouldn't stop happening. Ever. Fortunately for her, the crew had not already gone in the ship and take off in a trail of dust that would be for Aera to fill her lungs with.

She straightened up her posture and double-checked her gear while giving a glimpse at everybody that she would share a ship and possibly an adventure with. The backpack on her was naturally heavy but a weight that she had gotten used to now, it was even slightly lighter than usual. She adjusted the ropes on her backpack while she tapped the different gear that was out of her bag.

Dinu'ul; Check.
Wrist Charric; Check.
.48-caliber Enforcer pistol; Check.
Vibrodagger; Check.
Akaa'gai tomahawk; Check.
DC-15S; Check.
Beskar'gam; Uncheck.

Aera had to dispose of her armor which was almost completely broken during the skirmish with the Primeval remains in the Chiloon Rift. Now she simply stood with a grey tank top and olive colored cargo pants that went straight into her leather-made grav boots. On the back of her tank one could see the Mandalorian mythosaur skull engraved.

From checking her gear her mind shifted back to those around her. The other Mandalorian that was part of this crew would receive a curt nod from the woman before giving a glimpse to the rest of the adventurers - a short-haired brunette that seemed to be paired with a blonde one and a shady looking human male. Nothing too surprising or outlandish apart from their employer - a robot or a man's soul in a robot. Whatever it was, it was peculiar and Aera hoped she could learn more about it.


[member="Eralam"] [member="Titan Kryze"] [member="Zee"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Duncan Pierce"]

 

[Cait Falcor]

Cait Falcor
Turkey's On-Ramp
_____________________

"Is everyone here?"

"Feth yes!" Cait chirped.

Cait fairly bounced with excitement, next to her bulging ruck-sack and a small hover-tough-tote full of tools and gear.

This gig to Sprocket was everything she'd set out to be a mercenary for. Excitement, exploration, venturing into the unknown. "Cool Guy Shaz". And of course, most importantly, mega-creds. She came back from this, Cait would be set for a while.

She giggled to herself, and then looked at her new compatriot [member="Zee"] . She was still trying to figure the petite blonde out, but one way or the other, the two had bonded back on Arkania. Now they were setting out on an adventure together. Cait was pumped.

The Turkey was an odd bird, but she looked functional. Cait could not *wait* to get aboard and start tinkering.

___________

Cait eyeballed the rest of her rag-tag bunch. Zee, of course, the robot-jedi at the top of the onramp, another eager looking new-merc just like her and then a pair who could only be Mandalorians. Cait stared in barely contained awe. One was a dour, armored figure who certainly seemed to earn all of the imposing aura Mandalorians seemed to cultivate. The other was a tough looking, dark skinned brunette who absolutely did not look like someone to mess with.

Now *that* is what a merc looks like. Cait couldn't help but admire[member="Aera Varad"] , strapped down w/ gear and ready for adventure in just a shirt and fatigue pants.

Cait hip-checked her buddy Zee, and under her breath muttered "Is this gonna be awesome or what?!"


[member="Eralam"] [member="Titan Kryze"] [member="Duncan Pierce"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Zee gave Cait a loooooooooooong side eye when she hip checked her. There was a moment where nothing happened, the smaller woman just giving the other a bemused look. And then-

*bump*

"You have a weird definition of awesome, Cait," Zee murmured back. "It's going to be something alright though. And stop staring at the Mando'ade. Your eyes are gonna fall out of your head."

A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips as she turned to look back at their very interesting boss.

In contrast to her friend, Zee's kit was minor. Everything she needed (besides the old rifle slung over once shoulder) fit in a single, slim rucksack. She had listened to Eralam go over, well, not everything. She wondered what he was leaving out. It didn't even occur to her that he might be sharing all he knew with them. After all, everyone had secrets, and she wouldn't tell a crew anything they didn't need to know right away. The question in her mind wasn't if he was hiding anything, it was simply how much.

"Looks that way," Zee called out, in response to Eralam's Is everybody here?

[member="Eralam"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Aera Varad"] [member="Titan Kryze"] [member="Duncan Pierce"]

 

[Eralam]

"Alright then, load up. [member="Duncan Pierce"], if you'll head to the cockpit, Pearl, our astrogator, will help you get settled."

Eralam looked the group up and down one more time, trying to get a read on them. They looked like a competent bunch, even if they were organics. This was a mission full of uncertainties, but the one thing he was absolutely sure of was that it would be interesting. Whether it was the good sort of interesting or the "Oh God, we're all going to die" variety remained to be seen.

"There are enough crew cabins that you don't have to double up, but they have bunks aplenty if you'd rather. We take off in an hour."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back on the ship, Eralam locked himself in his cabin and brought his console to life. He didn't have to watch the probe droid's footage again, but he was going to. It fascinated him. A world where the droids had taken over and enslaved the organics? Preposterous. And yet, that's exactly what it looked like. The droids looked like four wheeled groundcars, anthropomorphized to allow for faces and facial expressions. Most seemed to go about their business in good cheer, performing tasks that he could only guess the purpose behind. The two cities were large and well organized, with wide streets and buildings clearly meant to accommodate wheeled forms.

In the smaller city, however, there were the slave pens. They didn't quite descend to the level of fetid squalor that he had seen on other worlds, but they certainly weren't pleasant. The organics seemed humanoid; they tended to run larger than the average humans, and almost universally adopted a look of slack-jawed stupor that made him think they had been selectively bred with some intensity for physical strength and mental torpor. If they had been isolated and bred that way long enough, they might count as their own separate subspecies by this point.

The droid beings seemed singularly uninterested in the probe droid as it hovered over their cities. It occurred to the Shard that they hardly ever seemed to look up. Perhaps this was indicative of a lack of interest in the stars, or maybe they had other means of watching the skies? Either way, the droid didn't pick up any signals that would indicate it was being tracked. There was some artificial electromagnetic radiation, but not as much as one would expect.

For the hundredth time, Eralam let the footage play. He would show it all to the crew in time, but first, he wanted to let them get acclimated to the ship and each other. It was going to be a long voyage.

[member="Zee"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Aera Varad"] [member="Titan Kryze"]

 

[Duncan Pierce]

Duncan waited for an answer from the droid but it looked like the droid didn't notice him, as the time passed more and more people came, he saw a Mandalorian but he was more interested in the three girls

"This trip is now ten times better" thought and then he hear the droid asking to head to the cockpit

"Sir, yes sir!"

Once inside the ship Duncan saw little astromech

"So you're gonna be my partner, mind if i call you Pearly?" The droid make noice and whistle

"Sorry... I don't speak Astromech... I'm taking that as a yes"

Duncan pushed some buttons and switches preparing the ship to take off, with the help of the astromech the ship was ready

"Alright, the ship is ready, give me the coordinates and our adventure will start!"

[member="Eralam"] / [member="Zee"] / [member="Cait Falcor"] / [member="Aera Varad"] / [member="Titan Kryze"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Fortunately, Zee's habit of saluting was long over come. She offered a curt nod to [member="Eralam"] as she and [member="Cait Falcor"] headed up the gang plank and in to the ship.

Being an older model, the layout was slightly more familiar to Zee, and she led the way to the Engine room after only a moment's hesitation. She stopped in the middle of the room, a small frown on her face as she looked around. She sure hoped that whomever had sold this death trap to their boss for the trip had kept up the engines better than the rest of this clunker. Sharp grey-green eyes cast about, taking in the details.

She spoke over her shoulder to Cait, but her attention was mostly on the machinery.

"No wonder they advertised for two mechanics. Besides anything that happens dirtside, this ship is going to need both of us. Well, that's one mystery solved at least. Looks like there's only one bunk in here- the other crew quarters were probably built with more in mind, but," she said with a shrug, "can't be helped."

It didn't even occur to either of them to take a different room. They had to be available at any moment- under normal circumstances, that was important for a ship's mechanic. But the general disarray, dust and rust made it imperative on the Screaming Turkey.

Zee turned around slowly, still frowning as she spoke.

"I'll bunk out on the floor, you can take the-"

Blink blink.

"What the frak are you hanging up?"



[member="Duncan Pierce"] [member="Aera Varad"] [member="Titan Kryze"]

 

[Cait Falcor]

Cait Falcor
Turkey - Engineering
______________

As [member="Zee"] and Cait worked their way through the ship, Cait was surveying every bulkhead, panel, and section. There was no doubt, the Turkey needed some work, but the underlying engineering was sound. She was a good ship, just in need of some TLC.

Arriving in the Engine room Cait almost about-faced and debarked the ship right there. "You have got to be kidding me, this place is a fething mess!" She exclaimed on first inspection. With an audible "ooph" she dumped her bags near the combination Office/Bunk while Zee did her walk through.

Zee looked into the bunk with Cait before continuing along her way, casting a sidelong glance before continuing.

"Looks like there's only one bunk in here - the other crew quarters must be built with more in mind but...can't be helped" Cait was already rummaging in her bag Defeatist she chuckled to herself, and got to work.

***

After a minute, Zee had looped back around, and had been talking - Cait heard something about bunking on the floor as if and then felt more than heard Zee come to a stop. "What the frak are you hanging up?"

Cait stepped back and admired her handi-work. One Bunk? No problem. She turned around, beaming and jumped down from the desk that she'd been standing on and hooked her drill into her belt. "Picked this up on Cato Neimoidia from a Wookie. He called it a RAAAWWRR." Cait added, with a laugh. "His protocol droid, however, called it a dreadful barbaric contraption...or a Hammock, whichever you prefer. See? Two bunks! No way am I letting you sleep on the floor! Now, help me setup the Caf Machine and lets start cataloging all the work that we need to do to Not Die (tm) on this hunk of bolts! I've got some of that Kashyyk Dark Roast you love so much!"

This is gonna be fun.

_______________

[member="Duncan Pierce"], [member="Eralam"], [member="Aera Varad"] [member="Titan Kryze"]