Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » The Cold Winter of Klulu (1x1 with Olthain)

Loud snores came from Lynn's cabin. Even if she was up in her bed cubicle, her snores seemed to echo into the hallway. Boy was she tired. Lynn had spent so much time running about the ship during the battle between the pirate fleet and their own, trying to keep everything working fine. Thankfully they had pulled out without too great of a loss. But afterwards, several of the ships needed some major repairs that can not be tended to while in space. They'd risk blowing a hole in the hull. They had set course for the nearest planet with a space station. As far as Lynn knew, they were a ways away from the nearest space station and had some time to rest up. Hence she was now catching up on some rest...

A ritual takes place. Everyone sits around the fire. The others were decorated with bright colored feathers of a Tilamir and the teeth of the Muncyu. All were dressed in bright clothing. "What..." Lynn looked down at herself to see herself, dressed in beautiful red, yellow and purple silks, decorated with shiny white beads. She smiled, looking up suddenly to see an elderly Mur gazing down on her. She knelt before her, her braided hair falling over her shoulder. The elder spoke in her native tongue, bestowing a necklace upon her bearing a large fang from the Jiguur. Lynn closed her eyes and there was a flash of light and Lynn suddenly felt a wave of panic come over her. Everything turned black and grey and all the citizens around them became skeletons, draped with now white silk, blowing in the wind. Voices echoed. SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS. WHY DID YOU GIVE THAT TO HER? WHY? The voices continued echoing as Lynn was suddenly grabbed by the darkness. She attempted to scream but she was not able to speak. CONSUME HER! the voices echoed.

Lynn's brow was drenched with sweat, turning over in her covers she struggled with the nightmare. She was shaking. "AAH!" Lynn screeched, jolting up and hitting her head off the ceiling of the cubicle with a loud clang that was probably heard in the cabin's above and beside her's. The woman just sat there, panting now and with the flicker of the terminal's light in the dark cubicle, the terminal let off an alarm in Lynn's bed cubicle. Snarling and rubbing her forehead, Lynn's markings turned a deep red as her pupils widened to full size at the terminal's light. With another flicker, Lynn smashed the control panel with her fist and the transmission came on. "MRS?" Lynn once again yelped at the loudness of her terminal, quickly turning it down. A transmission came from the hangar. "Mrs? Are you awake?" Rubbing her eyes and letting her pupil's adjust to the light, she saw it was her assistant engineer, Llarik. "What is it, boy? Aye-dayama!" she spat couple statements in her native language as Llarik stifled a laugh. "Mrs. We need you in the hangar for some more repairs." "Never a moments rest, I guess? Ah fine. I'll meet you there, just let me get dressed for Rennoc's sake!" Llarik once again laughed before turning off the intercom. Soon enough Lynn was out of bed and down her ladder. Getting dressed, she opened the window shutter gazing out at the star cluster they were passing. Smiling, she pulled on her other shoe and ran out of her cabin, locking it behind her as she ran toward the hangar. "Just forget it, Lynn..." she thought to herself as she turned a corner.";

"Sir, we can't make more than three system jumps when our engine is damaged at this rate. I'd be surprised if we can even initiate a third." Jenkins informed him.
"Damnit... These pirates were better equipped than our informant told us." Tyron replied. "What's the nearest available planet we can use?"
"Xendo-6, sir. Uninhabited as far as we know. It's in the Xendo system, 1 jump away."
"It'll have to do. Set course for the jump station and to Xendo-6"
"Yes sir, setting course now." It wasn't long before the warp drive was activated, and five minutes later they arrived at the jump station.
"This is captain Tyron for jump station officer. Requesting permission to jump to Xendo system."
"Permission granted, you are cleared to proceed." came the answer. A second later, the jump gates circle launchers was activated and it launched a beam that drew all three of Tyron's ships in the position for a jump.
"System jump in three, two, one..." Jenkins pulled the lever, and the Confidence jumped, the two others following closely behind.

They arrived at the Xendo system and the ship immediately turned to Xendo-6. Once again initiating the warp drive, they arrived seconds after. Tyron picked up the intercom transmitter. "Attention crew, we will land on Xendo-6, an uninhabited planet in the Xendo system, to perform repairs that cannot be done in outer space. You will not need suits as you go out, scanners show the air is breathable. Captain Tyron out.

Soon the mechanic had arrived in the hangar just after Tyron made the announcement. Looking out the nearest window, Lynn stared at the planet... A white planet. Was it covered in snow? Llarik soon approached her with her tool belt. "You forgot this down here last time you were repairing the hull ma'am." he said as he handed it to her. "Thanks, Llarik and how many times have I told you now! You can just call me Lynn!" the woman's tail swished about before Llarik tensed up. "Sorry ma'am-- I mean Lynn! I'm just used to--." Lynn scoffed before he could say anything else. "Yes, yes. Anyways, so what needs to be handled right now." Llarik shut his mouth and pointed to where she needed to be and she patted the young man on the head. "Good boy, now come along." she began to walk and once again looked out the nearest window. "Llarik... What is that planet covered in?" she asked bluntly as she turned a bit to Llarik. "Oh, that's snow! You know... precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that fall from clouds." Lynn looked confused. "You've never seen snow before?" The woman shook her head before continuing on without saying anything.

The space station was located on the planet's surface where it was hidden by the snow. Right now as of currently there were no storms because it was day time. Come night time however, the planet would be engulfed in a planet wide snow storm. A transmission called the Confidence. "State your ship's names and business."

Tyron's eyes shot up from the hologram when the transmission came in. He looked at Jenkins.
"Wasn't this planet uninhabited? Isn't that why it's given a number in the first place?"
"Yes sir... I don't understand..."
Tyron shook his head. Whoever they were, they sure knew how to remain hidden. "I am Captain Tyron, commander of Hawk fleet, including ships Confidence, Shield and Prospector. We mean no harm, and wish to land only to perform repairs on damage sustained in our most recent battle.

The rather strict looking woman turned from the hologram for a moment, several murmuring voices echoing in the background. Soon the woman turned back, seeming to inspect Tyron. "Permission Granted. Follow the signal and land in hangar 47. It will be the only hangar open so you won't have much trouble finding it. I also do request that your crew does not leave the base. This is a danger zone, Captain Tyron. We wouldn't want anything happening."

Lynn slid into the trap door that lead to a maze of wires and machinery. Llarik stood at the door, making sure Lynn's wire was secure at the top. The woman wore some equipment meant for this type of thing. The drop wasn't too large though, she just would be able to grasp any walls without possibly knocking anything out of place. taking out her wrench she began working on some broken pipes.

"Thank you, lady." he turned the hologram off again.
"Jenkins, have you got hold of of that tracking signal?"
"Yes sir, we're heading towards it right now." the first mate replied.
"Good." He looked at the planet, now right in front of them, as they descended. It was a snowy one, and if there were a lot of storms, the interference could easily mess up long range scanners. That was probably why none of the federation's scanners hadn't picked up any life on the planet. "I just hope we don't get in a war.." he said to nobody in particular. Second mate Lara nodded, though. "Me neither."

The ships quickly descended. Confidence first, Shield and Prospector close behind. As soon as they entered the atmosphere, Tyron couldn't see for quite a long time, not until they reached a planet altitude of 4 km's. Which meant the woman was right - there was a storm on its way.
Jenkins steered the confidence into the hangar and set out the landing gear. Tyron looked around, the hangar was huge and could easily fit all three ships. His other two ships quickly followed, each of them easily finding a place to land.
"Attention all crew members. We have landed in the hangar of an unknown base. Permission was granted by unknown inhabitants, but we are not allowed to leave the base. I urge you to remain on your ships unless nessecary tasks need you somewhere else." he concluded.
"Get me some TAC-escort troopers. Let's go meet whoever is in charge. You're coming along, Jenkins. Lara, you're in charge on the bridge."
"Yes, sir." she replied. Tyron and Jenkins walked towards the ship's main exit, linking up with a squad of six TAC troopers on the way, and walked off the ramp into the hangar.

With the sudden landing, Lynn was swung forward straight into the wall of machinery and pipes. There was a loud clang and the sound of the woman spitting out rude statements in a foreign language only to be shut up by the announcement. Reeling herself back up and sitting on the hangar floor, Llarik laughed at the red spot on her forehead now. "Oh shut it. I don't wanna hear it." she puffed her cheeks as she turned to see the hangar door, open. "So we can't leave the base..." Llarik nodded and watched as Lynn strolled casually over to the hanger door and peering around Hangar 47. As Tyron passed the two, a sudden rush of cold air hit her and Lynn leaped back, shivering. "HOLY MOTHER OF YROC! WHAT IS THIS?!" she yelped. Llarik looked at Lynn with a confused look as she hid behind him. The woman was shivering like crazy. He laughed. "I'm going to guess that, you've never been in a cold environment before." Lynn hissed. "I grew up on a tropical planet and lived on a desert planet. I've only read about this sort of thing!" Lynn peered around only to find, other crew members staring at her with a weird look.

When Tyron would come out, he'd find the strict woman standing a little bit away from the ship, with several armed robotic guards behind her.

Tyron smiled slightly as he saw Lynn's reaction to the cold weather. HE hadn't seen snow in a while, but he could handle it. He approached the woman and her escort and held his position when he reached her. "Greetings. I am Tyron, captain of this fleet. This is my first mate Jenkins. I am sorry to just barge in on your planet, Federation intelligence didn't know about inhabitants here."

The woman inspected him and her expression turned friendly. "I welcome you all to Xendo-6. Apology accepted, Captain. I am General Cera and I am in charge of operations in this base and as expected, the planet protects us well. This base is the center of our mining operations here on Xendo-6." The ceiling above began to close up, the cold air beginning to fade away under the heating systems that started up once the ceiling closed. "Your crew is free to wander around the base. It is like any other city but I restrict your crew from leaving the base and or entering the mining areas. These areas are marked." The general saw Lynn's reaction. "And there is also... warm clothing for sale." she remarked with a quiet chuckle. Upon further inspection, the general looked something along the lines of a human other then some different features. "Upon that, if you have any questions to ask me, feel free to ask me."

Llarik looked at Lynn and sighed. She was clinging to his back and it didn't seem that she would get off anytime soon. Thank god she wasn't exactly heavy. "Ok you know what, I'm going to take you to get some warmer clothing." "But..." "No objections." said Llarik when Lynn protested. Llarik began to wander his way to the market place with Lynn on his back, her tail twitching. All of her feathers stood on end and her markings turned a bright cyan.

Tyron nodded. "I thank you, General Cera. I will make sure my men nor myself won't get in any 'uncomfortable' situations, you have my word." With those words, he returned to the ship. "Jenkins, every engineer who has been off-duty during the trip is now on duty. I want these hulls checked and repaired as quickly as possible, we've got another assignment ahead of us."
"Yes sir, i'm on it." Jenkins replied, and turned in the other direction when he and Tyron got back on the ship.

Since they seemed to have landed on a friendly planet, Tyron decided they might as well get whatever coin was to be gathered. He ordered the prospector to set up a stall at the market and sell some stuff they had picked up along the way.

General Cera nodded with a smile before turning with her guards and leaving the hangar. Among the people who were wandering around doing business in the area, a couple groups of engineers wandered out and began helping them work on the ships.

As Lynn got warmer, she jumped off Llarik's back and continued following him to the market. She was still cold and she couldn't understand how people around here were so lightly dressed in this temperature. Even with the heat on, she was still cold. Upon approaching the market place Llarik dragged Lynn inside. "But, I hate trying on clothing!" she hissed with her ears folded back. Llarik shook his head as he threw some warm clothing at Lynn and waited for her to get dressed. Glaring at him a moment, she slipped on a jacket. Llarik turned for only a minute or two to browse some other merchandise only to turn around and see a big puffy ball of jackets and snow pants. Lynn didn't even look like she was present in the mass of clothing other then her gloved hands, head of blonde hair and her now stubby looking tail that flicked about. "Now I'm warm." the woman stuck her head out a bit, smiling and Llarik couldn't help but burst into laughter. If only Tyron saw this.

Tyron was on the bridge, looking out over the hangar. A couple of the men had set up tents in the hangar to sleep in to get rid of the enclosed cabin they slept in. He could quite understand them in a sense. It looked funny to have tents inside a building, and some of the natives seemed to think the same judging by their occasional laughter. Tyron just assumed those natives hadn't been to space yet. Or at least not for a long time. He sighed as he watched his men walk around the tents, seemingly careless for the laughing comments. He smiled and walked back from the window, and back to studying a hologram of the ship Jenkins had just opened.
"Alright, we'll need some major defenses on the hull here, and here. Their fighters must have tried to focus fire on the engine rooms. too bad for them we have them someplace else." Jenkins explained.
"Anything else?" Tyron informed. This time it was Lara who chimed in.
"The Shield's power core needs recharging, it took some serious hits by that main cannon."
"How long?"
"At least another week, sir."
"Jenkins, I need you to put together a training schedule. We'll give the men today and tomorrow to rest up, but we can't have them get out of shape. We start some ground training the day after tomorrow."
"On it, sir."
"Right then, dismissed." With that, Tyron turned around and left the bridge to get some rest of his own in his cabin.

Llarik and Lynn had still been browsing the market only now, Lynn had less layers of clothing on and looked more normal now. She was still kind of cold though. Llarik chuckled as he watched her shivering. "Why don't we head back. We still have things to repair." Lynn nodded then looked at a tool store with glowing eyes. "Llarik, I'll catch up." she turned from Llarik as he watched her wander off happily into the tool store. Turning her wandered on back and noticed the tents set up in the hangar. "What a cool idea guys." others asked if he and Lynn could join him. Agreeing, Llarik wandered back into the ship to grab his own tent.

Meanwhile, Lynn wandered about the store that was tightly packed with brand new tools of all sorts. Her eyes glistened with curiosity as she poked at some tools. Blinking, she soon saw something on the top shelf that caught her eye. A large pair of gloves, decorated with some kind of glowing blue material and a pair of cool black goggles also lined with the blue material. They looked kind of fancy but old. "Hm. Old looking but look a lot more durable then my old leather gloves and goggles."Looking around, she wondered where the staff were at. Trotting up to the counter she came face to face with a large over sized alien with a weird looking face. "Hello customer. How may I be of service?" it asked in a monotonous voice. "YES! Ehe- Uhm I'm like the pair of blue lined, black goggles and gloves please!" she asked cheerily but he told her the price. Lynn frowned at the price. Man they were expensive! Lynn and the counter man, began to barter for some time and eventually they came to an agreement. He tossed her the gloves and goggles and she paid up. "Thanks!" she giggled as she skipped out of the store.

The mischievous mechanic, slipped on her new pair of gloves and smiled. They fit nice and snug on her hands. Next she slipped on the goggles but like the lenses, everything turned black. Blinking she adjusted them and sure enough, everything suddenly flicked into heat vision. "Whoa!" she laughed as she looked around the market, top to bottom. Next she flipped them into normal mode. She was definitely happy now. Now she supposed was a good time to wander back to the ship. Chtter chtter chtter...chtter... Lynn's ears twitched. She heard... scratching? Turning, she scanned the area around her cautiously, her markings turning yellow. The lights flickered and the sound of an engine powered down nearby before an announcement, that was slightly static blared over the speakers. "Sorry folks, we are hitting another spot filled with those metallic rocks in the mines. Black outs may occur for a while until we pass it." Lynn's ears folded suspiciously before continuing her way back to the hangar. From a dark corner of the hallway, the light suddenly blew causing Lynn to jump. Her feathers stood on end and her flashed a couple colors before she looked around quickly. A couple moments of silence and a sigh of relief later, a vent from above her suddenly flew off and slammed to the floor near her, causing her to squeak. Lynn quickly hurried away and back to the hangar.

Chtter chtter chtter...chtter... There it was again. What was that? It was making Lynn nervous. Back in the hangar, Llarik looked around after setting up his sleeping stuff inside his tent. The hangar was slightly chilly now and as far as he knew by looking out the nearest window, it was getting darker out. Chtter chtter chtter...chtter... Llarik heard it. Blinking he looked around confused before looking behind some crates. Nothing. "Hey, did you guys hear that too?" he asked but his fellow engineers shook their heads, giving him a weird look. "Hm. Maybe it was Lynn playing a trick on me again." he shrugged and continued on with his business. As the night began to set it, everyone seemed to settle in pretty well and soon Lynn joined everyone in the tents, though she seemed a bit skittish. Llarik got up to get a drink and bumped into Jenkins suddenly. "Oh, sorry bout that sir. Was just on my way to get some drinks... Hey, uh. I have a question." he asked as he brushed himself off a bit.

Tyron, being up in the ship, hadn't taken notice of the weird scratching Lynn had heard just yet.
Jenkins looked down at the man who suddenly walked in on him. "That's no problem, mechanic -is it?. What's the matter? You seem a bit on edge?"

"Well. Have you been hearing those weird sounds through out the hangar? We've been hearing them for a bit now..." Llarik quickly glanced around like he heard it again, seeming nervous. Everyone around them who wasn't staff on the station, seemed rather nervous.

Lynn saw Llarik talking with Jenkins and furrowed her brow. Chtter chtter chtter...chtter... There it was again. It was odd. No matter where she was, she heard the sound. It was creeping her out. "You know what? I think, I'll sleep in my cabin instead guys." she smiled and stood up with her sleeping bag. Some of the engineers frowned and tried to persuade her to sit down with them once more but she shook her head, hurrying back to the ship without another word. Llarik saw her pass and gave her a slightly worried look but looked back to Jenkins, hoping he would possibly know how to calm everyone down.

Jenkins heard it too now, for the first time. He'd been in his own cabin writing the plans for training exercises and hadn't been in the hangar any longer than his short meeting with the lady here. He frowned slightly as he tried to concentrate on what it was, but he couldn't place it. It obviously put the men on edge as well.
"I'll talk to the captain about it." he replied. "Dismissed." Jenkins immediately turned around back to the confidence to find Tyron on the bridge.
"Captain, if I may?"
Tyron nodded. "What is it, Jenkins?"
"The men are getting on edge down there... There's a scratching sound all over the hangar, but no one can place it and know one knows exactly where it is."
Tyron frowned as well, probably the 100'th person who did that today. "Let's go talk to that lady we met earlier."

Not a long time later they stood at the door of where the lady was residing. Tyron, Jenkins, and a smal TAC escort. Tyron adressed the guard at the door. "I'd like to speak to the lady, if I may."

The guard observed the group before knocking on the door and turning on the intercom. "Yes?" General Cera rose her voice from inside of the office. "Captain Tyron is here to speak with you, ma'am." the guard said. A couple moments of silence later, the general opened the door and gazed upon Tyron. "Ah, Hello again. I assume you have questions?" she smiled in a friendly manner.

Meanwhile, Lynn wandered through the ship back to her cabin where she quickly opened it and locked it behind her. The scratching had stopped since she had entered the ship. She sighed in relief as she turned on all the lights and shut the shutters on her window, looking one last time out into the hangar before climbing up the ladder into where her bed was. Pulling the covers over herself, she turned off her light and stared at the wall for a bit, her ears and tail twitching. Something didn't feel right.

Tyron nodded with a friendly smile. "Yes ma'am, if I may." He'd walk in and take a seat when she did, and folded his arms in front of him. "I've been getting reports from several of my men saying they hear a weird.. 'scratching' sound all around the hangar. They can't tell what it is and where it comes from, for it seems to be everywhere. I'm afraid I must say I haven't heard it myself, but both my first and second mate have confirmed my people's stories." He looked at her with a questioning look on his face. "Do you have any idea what this could be, general?"

The general quirked a brow. "Scratching sounds? she tilted her head slightly, seeming to be thinking. "Hm... I honestly don't know, Captain. I doubt anything has got into the vents. Or maybe someone is messing with the speakers? I don't know, I haven't heard them either." she scratched her head, confused. A couple moments of silence later, she leaned forward and typed in a number into the holo-phone. A scruffy, tired, older looking man popped up onto the holo. "Yes, General?" he asked. He looked awfully bored. "Second mate, Iris. This is Captain Tyron. He claims that his crew has been hearing weird sounds in the hangar. I want you to have your men, check the vents and the speaker system please. Make sure we don't have any critters around." she asked the older man politely and without another word, the holo shut down. "I'll take care of it, Captain. Thank you for informing me." General Cera stood and put her hand out to shake Tyron's.

Tyron rose from his seat as well and smiled at the general. "It's been my pleasure general." She shook her hand as politely and bowed slightly as he walked backward, eventually turning around and leaving the room.
He met Jenkins and the TAC squad back outside.
"What's the word, sir?" Jenkins asked.
"She doesn't know any more than we do, but she's having a certain second mate Iris check it out. We should be fine, for now."
"Sounds fine by me." Jenkins replied. With that, the odd group of the captain, 1st mate and TAC troopers dressed in black made their way back to the hangar and onto the ship. Tyron retreated to his quarters for some administrational work and Jenkins was on duty on the bridge. They'd be fine, for the time being.