Glein
Vaigarin Elder
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2021
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 19
Carmelian Expanse - 007015:7 (Lionis, Aloros)
Kahbull
While there were hardly any real reactions to the pair of women in bikinis with thick socks, heavy flight gloves, and a singular armored pauldron each, they still got looks. Not even the massive heads of hair they sported that nearly obscured the feline ears atop their heads threw people off. This was just kind of normal in a space port city. You just got all sorts.
The fact they were twins was probably more drawing of attention since they had actively matched their looks; it seemed like to make it hard to tell them apart. "Okay Niobe, I gotta ask again, why'd we agree to meet with him? I mean, last time things went kind of... I won't say sideways, it didn't go that badly, I'm just not sure it went well either." One said, unashamedly adjusting the strap on her bikini so she could retighten it.
"Well Noele, he was quite polite about it, and also mentioned that the job he's offering is right up our alley." The other replied, glancing back at her sister. "Oh stop fiddling with it. You'll just make it worse."
"I'm trying to avoid a public indecency charge." Noele replied, rolling her eyes. Kahbull was one of the few cities that actually had such a law. It was enough to set Noele's tails swaying angrily behind her.
Niobe was calm and chuckled. "Just means we give him a good show beforehand." She replied, gesturing with her head for them to keep walking towards the cafe they'd been pointed to for this meeting.
It was a homey little place, a rather welcoming hole in the wall even. It was all leather chairs, and fine mahogany tables with polish and table clothes. The smell of coffee and cakes was floating over the place, a rather sweetly warm aroma mixture. Most wore casual clothes, as if having readied for a day of hanging out in a book nook, or comfortable lounge, and then you had Drake. The raven haired man, relaxing in one such armchair, a cup of coffee on the table with croissant, and him wearing his usual tropical patterned shirt.
As the twins arrived to the cafe, Niobe opened the door and held it open for someone coming out, before she and Noele stepped in. Of the two, Noele winced. "Oh gods, why does he wear that eyesore?" She asked, acting as though the sunlight hitting the shirt in question was somehow blinding in its reflection. "I think it's the same one he wore that night even!"
Niobe snickered before pulling her blinded sister over to the table, and the pair settled into the chairs there. "So, heard you were offering a job for us to do engineering work. This a building or destruction job?" She asked, referencing the kind of tasks the pair typically ended up doing because few wanted to hire them on as ship's engineers. After all, most people heard 'engineer' and thought 'construction' or 'demolition'.
"Crew aboard a refurbished patrol boat, full time, engineering duties. Pay and benefits up for discussion with the cap herself. So thoughts, concerns, wishlist additions, or further jabs at my old man's shirts?", Drake replied with a sly smile. He knew how the girls preferred to operate, and how much they hated this shirt, but hey it was his cover. Though together, well they looked like characters from a bygone era of media.
Noele smiled, and chuckled. "Patrol boat huh? Full time sounds good. Will definitely talk about pay and benefits. Don't want to get stiffed on that. What kind of facilities we talking 'bout? Zuphim or Animalia design? Type of armaments, and what kind of work is the captain typically doing?" She asked, already ticking off things to be worried about.
Niobe shrugged. "I'm more wondering what kind of standards the captain has. I'm guessing not very high considering your attire choices."
Drake brushed off the friendly jab, used to it from them, even though they had known each other only for a brief time. Perhaps it was from just how frequent they tended to be. "On that, you'd be completely right. Independent contracting work, mostly courier, occasional smuggling, and odd jobs. Armaments are minimal, mainly pd batteries and VLS launch tubes. Manufacturer and class are unknown as it's a second, and heavily modified with NDC tech."
Drake sat a small tablet on the table, which projected a small holo of the Fallen Shrine. One a second display that could be swiped to, were the finer details. Best to leave those to paper, as he was neither an engineer, nor a sailor.
Niobe quirked an eyebrow at the explanation. "VLS? On a space ship? The actual hell?" She said, quickly taking the tablet and looking at it. "This is... What the hell is this? It don't look like any kind of ship I've ever seen or even heard of. And what's an NDC?" She asked, having given the ship a good look over from the tablet. Information about the NDC was clearly fairly new to the UNS, and thus people were in the dark about the stellar nation.
Noele, though, leaned back. "Those sound like pretty standard contracting work for a ship. So what, the captain rerig this thing into a hauler?"
“More or less, uses it for running goods largely, on top of it being our ride. As for the NDC, it’s the New Dusk Conclave, my home. Didn't I mention that when we met?”, Drake replied before taking up his coffee for a swig. It’s not like he expected them to remember, but it also felt like something he would have mentioned when they had gotten as far as that night as they had. The man was starting to wonder if that was wishful thinking though, and afterall, forgettable was usually what he tried to go for… for work anyways.
Tipping back the cup for the last bit in the mug, he then sat the empty thing aside. “So, what do you say? Catch your fancy?” Currently he was betting the odds at 50/50 for if they came, but he was almost gut sure of it. “Perhaps maybe mull it over breakfast, my treat?”, he even offered as they took all the info into account, and looked the data over in continued bewilderment.
Noele shrugged. "Never mentioned it any of the times we worked together. Just figured you were an eccentric Zuphin more than anything." She pointed out, but slid the tablet back over. "We'll take the breakfast offer though. Honestly, I know my opinion on this... Niobe?" She continued, before turning her gaze to her twin.
"Fuggit. I'm tired of just demo jobs. Getting a chance to do some engine work in our own way is kind of why we got into the contractor-for-hire business after all." Niobe replied, grinning. "Still getting that breakfast off you Blinder." She finished, picking up on the of the order sheets to look over the options, grinning at her little joke about his shirt.
The man gave a small smirk before ordering a fresh coffee, “Perfect for staying forgettable. If I'm too painful to look at, my face will be the one thing they never remember clearly. That’s how I prefer things, beats keeping my head down with something emo like a hoodie.”
This was one of the things Drake hated about the UNS as he passed the waitress a few more coins for his current round of coffee. At least, he hoped it was coffee, which tasted mostly similar anyways. But it was the fact that with so many nations in this alliance, you had to keep track of multiple currencies if traveling regularly between them. Frankly the whole system seemed very ill built for any sort of standardization, even though it allowed each nation to keep their cultural identity intact quite crisply.
Niobe rolled her eyes. "Nah, they'll remember your face all the better since they want to make sure they can recognize who tried to blind them." She quipped, while ordering her and her sister's breakfast, a 'farmer's breakfast' of sorts, though not exactly the same. Fish instead of bacon for example.
While they waited, Noele leaned on her fist. "So, what's the captain like? Since you're clearly headhunting us for them." She asked, figuring might as well get a sense of who they were working for, even if it wasn't completely accurate considering Drake's... 'quirkiness' to them.
“Well she’s foxy for sure, bit of a grump when things are less then ideal. Not entirely sure on some of this, keep in mind, as I’ve only been on this crew for a short time myself. I forget what your culture calls people who have more animal like features, but she’s a genemod, war vet of sorts too. Carries a big fuck off tri-barrel cannon on her hip to as a sidearm.” Drake sat there for a moment, wondering on just what he could even add at this point.
He really had only been around for a couple of days, having settled into the ship and cased it and its prospects. He wasn’t planning a theft or nothing, but the pair seemed like an odd duo, the doc definitely giving the merc uneven vibes for sure. “Oh yeah, try to avoid mentioning deermods around her, I’ll explain that more, some other time. And be careful of the grandpa onboard, doc kinda has one too many gloves up his ass to me a bit, real shifty fella who’s always tense.”
"We're called Animalia." Noele deadpanned, being bluntly reminded just how Drake could be at times. "So you're saying she's a kitsune." She continued though, with a touch more emotion. "Sounds interesting. Though I'm guessing that cannon of her's is kind of low caliber, right?" She asked, curious at the terms being thrown around, but figuring a deep explanation would wait.
In the meantime, the meals were arriving and Niobe was quick to start digging in.
“Uh no, I mean like this is a literal hand cannon. Lass is shorter then me, and wields the thing like any of us would hold a normal pistol. She would be kitsune if from here, but she’s lab made, as I mentioned, a genemod. They were vat born soldiers from labs during the war or somethin’, lot of ‘em still around even these days.” He had leaned in closer as he began, lowering his voice as he went on.
“I think the doc is a vet too by how he acts, or someone who’s been around uniforms enough to have it rub off. Both got history and baggage, but they aren’t exactly open about the stuff. With how she handles the gun, she probably bench press any of us like weights on a bar.”
Noele paused in her eating, having taken a few bits while Drake spoke. "Uh-huh. That, well, sounds like a lot of crazy. But considering some the other stuff you've presented thus far." She said, before resuming her eating.
Niobe though grinned. "I do gotta wonder though, how could you have a war that is far enough back that you treat it like a full on history lesson, but somehow you've got folks still in the prime of their life from it. You got some kind of magic to extend life?"
Drake seemed to pause, wondering how to explain that to a culture who had never dealt with certain scientific concepts. “Well.. so it wasn’t an extension, but a preservation of it. You know how you keep fresh meat in the freezer right, imagine that, but doing it with people. Millions, frozen in suspended animation, all in pods. Where I come from, the war was over two hundred years ago, my mother would tell me stories about it even. A huge one that lasted over a hundred years, but on a world where we as a people lived long before I was born.”
Taking the pad, Drake began to tap and fiddle with the device, executing a few swipes here and there to pull something up. What he displayed was a digital textbook, and on the page, was a picture of a tan dusty world of sand. “A world all the old folk called Hassan, where my mum was even born. They all left after the war cuz it couldn’t sustain them anymore. So they came here, to this area of space, and set up in the next sector over from here. We live on a world with some local races called Sirris, and that’s where I was born.”
"I think we see. Might have to do a fair bit of reading if the captain takes us aboard. Since we don't know if she'll accept us out of hand. Though, if you're right, shouldn't be a problem." Niobe replied, nodding slowly. "Sounds like you came from a pretty broken world all things considered." She mused.
Noele shrugged, eating more of her food, tails swaying behind her in pleased patterns.
He only gave a shrug in response, “I guess, never saw it, was long before I was born. I only have the stories my mother would tell me, and what they teach us in the university.” Drake tapped the pad with the open history book page in emphasis. “As is, or as I might guess, the captain was a grunt frozen as stock. Salvaged by the founders, then thawed some time recently in the last couple years. Chances are, she’s younger then me, even though technically she should be a granny with how long ago that must of been. Not the weirdest cryo story I've heard though.”
Nodding, Niobe had returned her focus to her food, while Noele wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Right. That must seriously mess up how you track generations of people." She commented, putting the napkin on her emptied plate. "Since, ya know, you got folks from that war mingling with the current generation as equals, not elders." She mused. "So, when should we swing by the ship to interview with the big lady herself?" Noele asked, crossing her arms on the table and leaning forward.
Drake smiled as he pointed to their plates, “As soon as those are clean and I pay the bill. Lass was bitchin’ a storm while in the maintenance ducts this morning, about having to do the work herself. So I took the open excuse to get off the ship with the promise I'd make some calls. To be honest, was almost worried you’d have my number blocked, but seems my luck still holds up.”
"Ain't given us a reason to block your number yet. Admittedly, still pissed you one night stand-ed us the last time. Was bedding both of us that bad?" Noele asked, since Niobe's mouth was still full as she worked on devouring the contents of her plate.
"Especially since you didn't even bother with a note or anything. Were we that bad, or were you that ashamed?"
“Neither. I had a rush job come up that morning.”, he replied earnestly, before scratching the back of his neck for a moment. “Sure you saw the headline and smoke that next morning of what I mean. Had a favor called on an old debt, so I couldn’t say no either. By the time I got back, you both were gone.” Drake signaled for the bill to be brought, already pulling out the coin pouch to start parsing out what he knew he owed for the meal. “To be fair, I figured you’d be pissed, so I avoided calling. Lessen the risk of making things messy either, since things were hot after that job.”
"Ah. So didn't even bother afterwards to see if you needed to cover child support. Got it." Niobe said, having finished her plate and was staring at him like he'd done something incredibly stupid. The pair of them had plotting to drop this little prank on him as payback for the pump and dump he'd done on them, figuring there was likely a solid reason for his doing so, but unwilling to let the chance slide while they had it.
“Oh come on, don’t give my mum a reason to hound me even more about grandbabies. Please tell me they look more like you then me, kids deserve their moms’ charming features more then mine.” He groaned deeply before resting his cheek in a stressed hand. Great, the last thing he needed were kids, he at least wanted to run free for a few more years before settling down. “And no, we are not letting her watch them. I love the woman, but gods be damned if I’m going to let them hang around her and her questionable lifestyle.”
"Oh dear. Guess we'll have to suffer your tastes more than ours then. They look quite like you." Noele remarked, smirking. "And what luck that you got us both knocked up the same night." She said, continuing the prank.
Niobe shrugged. "I mean, we've got our own options for it, but it has been rather rough without the income to cover all the extra expenses."
He groaned again, finding the rabbit hole going deeper by the minute. Pinching the bridge of his nose at annoyance with himself, “What’s their names? I’d like to know my kids’ names, can't be like my own father. And he is never seeing them, last thing I need.”
Noele couldn't help but start laughing now. Same with Niobe. The pair couldn't really keep the prank going right now. "Okay. We can't keep going with this joke right now. No, you don't have a pair of adorable pair of nekomata kiddos from that last dalliance with us." Noele said, grinning, letting that sink in.
“Well I would say fuck you both, but we past that base at this point. Guess my luck holds again. Next time, I want pregnancy tests.” Drake was displeased with the joke, having figured he was about to face a reality that always felt a possibility with his own life habits. “Well you had your fun, and I bought you breakfast, so now we’re even.” The man swigged his coffee in defeat, knowing the twins had gotten the better of him this time.
"Fair enough." Noele said, grinning as the pair stood up and stretched. "So, we hopping a taxi or you got a car of some kind?" she asked, glancing out the door.
As the bill was carried over, Drake handed the waitress a stack of coins. Having overheard part of the conversation earlier, she was flushed as she quickly walked away again. “Ugh, yeah, I borrowed the jeep. Now come on, before you start giving the locals weird ideas about us, or any other public misunderstandings.” Leading the two out, he remotely beeped the vehicle in question with his geist, the jeep chiming to bring attention to it at it’s parking space just across the street.
“Alright, there it is, pile in for adventure and all that shit.”, he commented, having returned to his jesting cover. The vehicle was simple, rugged, and clearly built for frontier roads. Grey in its paint job, the thing only slightly stood out from the local vehicles.
The twins smirked, and climbed in, not seeming to be bothered with the looks people gave as they watched the three rather 'flashy' sorts climb into the jeep. The twins with their barely there outfits, and Drake with his eye-searing shirt.
"So, you really want to avoid kids that much huh? Why not just get snipped?" Niobe asked, leaning on the back of the front passenger seat with a broad grin on her face. Noele was busy fiddling with her bikini top once more, quietly grumbling about the tie getting loose again.
“Bold of you to assume I don’t, I just try to avoid it pulling me into retirement too soon. Want the savings to live comfortably with my family first before that happens.”, he quipped back before shifting the vehicle into drive. Pulling off the side of the road and into traffic, it was a leisurely enough drive through the almost monastic city, everything so gothically ornate, even as modern aesthetics bled in everywhere. A stark reminder to Drake that he was indeed a stranger in a strange land. Even the other cars on the road were strangely ornate, the road itself somehow impossibly smooth cobblestone.
“So the more important question, what have you two been up to since the last time we saw each other? Surely not avoiding trouble knowing you.”, Drake asked as they made their way through traffic.
"Keeping in the normal trouble. Blowing up shit and never getting to actually fix shit." Niobe stated, sighing. "As for kiddoes, don't worry. That savings will vanish quickly." She said, grinning and patting Drake on the shoulder from the back seat, grinning.
Noele huffed, and began to pull off the pauldron and harness she was wearing, and pulling the bikini top off, angrily working at the failing ties she'd had for the top. "Stupid piece of crap. I swear you gave me the broken top Niobe." she stated, not at all bothering to cover herself up as she undid the ties and throw the neck straps over her shoulders, and leaning forward to start doing up the main ties behind her back.
Drake casually adjusted the rearview mirror, trying to ignore that he was being flashed with tiddies. Even as he was slyly sneaking a peak in the corner of his eye, all the while trying to drive steady. “You know, you two are a driving hazard, and even more dangerous by how pretty the two of you are.”, he commented, ignoring the looks from other passing vehicles. Perhaps they should invest in a closed top vehicle in the future, especially if these two join the crew. Though at least, knowing them, this was likely to be common when in the privacy of the ship.
Gods, to think of the fantasies he ended up living out here, that most young men like him, only dreamed of. A foxy tomboy boss, who loves cannons for side arms. Now a pair of neko twins who weren’t shy about letting it all hang out in the open so casually, and were slightly tomboyish as well. Yep he was in some sort of heaven, and likely just a prelude to the deepest hell possible at some point in his future with his luck. His mother would have teased him to no end if she could see him now, knowing the things that he would see regularly around here, and it made him thankful to have gotten away from her.
"Oh is that all?" Niobe asked, grinning. "I thought we were a living hazard considering the work we do." She quipped, leaning back and relaxing in the seat. "And no sister, I didn't give you a broken top. We got them at the same time, at the same place. Not my fault you keep fiddling with it and thusly cause it to fail sooner." She said, shrugging in a disappointed way.
"Oh come off it." Noele shot back, finally getting the bikini back on and into place. "There." She said, nodding.
Disappointed the show was over now, it at least had helped pass the time. With the spaceport now pulling into view, the meeting of the boss was mere moments around the corner. Waving the berth pass to the security, he would then drive on through and to their assigned berth. They were rather simple things, the UNS somehow managing to use a magic based system of stone rings that trailed all the way to orbit. Their ships could follow them all the way safely down to the surface, gliding on the guiding forces of such magical constructs.
Here, they would then hover over the port from above, before they were cleared to land, and mechanical arms pulled them down to rest in water filled berths. Seeing as most such berths were made to accommodate averaged sized craft, the one the fallen shrine waded in was a bit larger then actually needed for her. The ship resting tethered near one side, her ramp down for boarding and going.
Noele whistled long and low as the ship came into view. "Wow, looks less pleasant in person than in the display." She said, looking on as the vehicle pulled into the bay, and winced more as the actual internal state of the ship hit her eyes. "Wow, it's worse than your shirts in here." She stated as though pained, noting the various jury-rigged 'fixes' that filled the various parts of the ship just inside the cargo bay.
Niobe however, was looking around, and noting the few crates currently sitting inside the bay. "Cargo you guys are bringing on or taking off?" She asked, gesturing to the nearest one in question. It was marked with NDC shipping labels and indicators. The crate in question she was pointing to was for a heavy tonnage of steel i-beams to allow for industrial construction.
“Oh that, off going, was the last job on the list on the way here. Currently no other jobs on the docket as I know, as the cap wanted to fill our roster some, before getting back into the thick of work.” After Drake’s reply, he walked over to a nearby intercom panel. “Hey Capitan, I got the two engineering specialists I’d said I’d call up.”, the man called into the audio sensor on the panel.
Niobe and Neole nodded, climbing out of the vehicle, and walking up to stand next to Drake.
"Great, whatever, get your sorry arse to the damned mess hall. The ration pallet you ordered has proven to have problems." Came the voice over the intercom, sounding rather pissed off about something that only it could see at the moment.
"That sounds friendly." Niobe whispered to her sister, who merely shrugged.
Thumb lifting from the key, Drake paused before looking at the twins, “She’s usually quite pleasant”. Waving them along, the merc walked the trio deeper into the ship, and traversed to the deck above. With a short jaunt down the old and rough corridors, the trio would end up in the small galley of the craft, where the shifting of stock in the pantry could be heard. “Hey cap, we’re here, so what’s the nature of your technical emergency?”, he announced in a faux cordial and bedside manner type of tone.
There was a loud clatter and a long string of expletives to follow as Drake came into the galley. "I swear to whatever deity's even exist that I'm tearing this shit out once I have the money to do so!" She finished, storming out of the pantry. Noticing the three, Soap pointed firmly at Drake. "You figure out how to get round storage units to sit in those damned racks in there!" She snapped. Taking several slow calming breaths, she shook her head and tried to settle her fur.
Noele and Niobe glanced at each other a moment and then returned their gaze to the obviously kitsune in front of them. The two tails and vulpine ears were all they needed to know about that. "So, you two are the engineers? Eh, great. Engine rooms thata way." She said, pointing the pair towards the back of the ship. "Since we're not leaving any time soon, either you can get parts of it fixed here, or I just kick you off." She stated, as way of explaining herself. "Food's here, bunks next deck up, bridge is above that. Simple, to the point. Doc's not on board, he's trying to get more supplies to better stock our med bay. Which is between here and the engine room." She continued, before walking over to the three well loaded pallets of what was clearly food items. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get our freezer goods away since it's clearly gonna take longer for the non-perishables."
The captain storming off pushing a cart that was much too large and clearly much too heavy for a kitsune to move definitely nailed that thought on them. "Ooookay. Hey Drake, you gonna be okay?" Niobe asked, wondering if this job was as nice as the pair had thought it would be.
"She's a bit feisty, easily triggered on her temper, but she's been through a lot. She fought in the war, saw a lot of shit people like us rather not think about. Kinda a tsundere." He seemed nonplussed about the whole affair, having grown used to it at this point. "By the way, how good are you at metal working?", Drake seemed to toss in after a moment.
Noele shrugged. "Spot welds, basic fabrication, the like. Don't ask us to build a whole new engine though." She said with a simple tone of someone who was used to answering the question.
Niobe nodded. "We might have to find suppliers for some parts, but so long as we can get the dimensions of things, we can usually get it to work, and if need be, make it ourselves if it's simple enough." She expanded. "I'm guessing the question, though, has nothing to do with our engineering skills."
"Think you could reconfigure that shelf? Should be simple enough, and we have scrap stainless steel on hand if more is needed." Drake gestured to the shelf that had sparked the captain’s ire, the thing a bit cramped and confined to hold much as is, much less anything not above the size, or more round then a normal can. Looking it over briefly before looking back to them, he added “Perhaps spacing the shelves out, making them a bit deeper, and with a more basket like shape?”
Noele poked her head in and looked over the whole thing. "Niobe! This is definitely more your bailiwick for fab than mine." She said, grinning. "If you can find her a torch and the material, she'll get started. Me, I'm gonna poke my head in on the engine." She finished, grinning as she walked off towards the rear of the ship.
Niobe sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fiiiine. Damned Molly!" She huffed, shaking her head. "Anyways... Let's see what we got going on in here." She remarked, squeezing into the pantry behind Drake, not even thinking twice about how she was pressing against him to get through the door. "Hmmm... Yeah, this is definitely more my thing than Noele. Give me a day and a half, discounting sleep, food and other biology needs, and you'll have an entirely new rigged up pantry." She stated, once she thought on it while looking around the room. "I would see if I could knock the hull back a bit, but I'm not sure how stable things are just yet. So! I'll just focus right now on fitting in the space we got." She concluded, nodding.
Drake said nothing, only silently enjoyed as heaven pressed across his side. Now he remembered why he was so eager to be roped in that night at the beach. “Uh yeah, I can get you that, and I’ll even cook meals so you don’t go hungry. Lavatory is down the hall and on the right by the way.”, he said a moment after she was speaking, the tiddy induced lag passing quickly with trained ease. “I’ll get the tools and metal, then go check on your sis.”
"Good on ya. Oh, also, get me a measuring tool." She said. Sure, she could probably eyeball it pretty easily, but having actually usable measurements would help long term, since it'd also give her a sense of the space more accurately for repairs and spot jobs when needed.
“Right, let me get the ruler and measure conversion chart.”, Drake added before finally stepping away to find said list of items spoken of. “I hope you like centimeters and meters!”, he called back to her part way down the hall.
Kahbull
While there were hardly any real reactions to the pair of women in bikinis with thick socks, heavy flight gloves, and a singular armored pauldron each, they still got looks. Not even the massive heads of hair they sported that nearly obscured the feline ears atop their heads threw people off. This was just kind of normal in a space port city. You just got all sorts.
The fact they were twins was probably more drawing of attention since they had actively matched their looks; it seemed like to make it hard to tell them apart. "Okay Niobe, I gotta ask again, why'd we agree to meet with him? I mean, last time things went kind of... I won't say sideways, it didn't go that badly, I'm just not sure it went well either." One said, unashamedly adjusting the strap on her bikini so she could retighten it.
"Well Noele, he was quite polite about it, and also mentioned that the job he's offering is right up our alley." The other replied, glancing back at her sister. "Oh stop fiddling with it. You'll just make it worse."
"I'm trying to avoid a public indecency charge." Noele replied, rolling her eyes. Kahbull was one of the few cities that actually had such a law. It was enough to set Noele's tails swaying angrily behind her.
Niobe was calm and chuckled. "Just means we give him a good show beforehand." She replied, gesturing with her head for them to keep walking towards the cafe they'd been pointed to for this meeting.
It was a homey little place, a rather welcoming hole in the wall even. It was all leather chairs, and fine mahogany tables with polish and table clothes. The smell of coffee and cakes was floating over the place, a rather sweetly warm aroma mixture. Most wore casual clothes, as if having readied for a day of hanging out in a book nook, or comfortable lounge, and then you had Drake. The raven haired man, relaxing in one such armchair, a cup of coffee on the table with croissant, and him wearing his usual tropical patterned shirt.
As the twins arrived to the cafe, Niobe opened the door and held it open for someone coming out, before she and Noele stepped in. Of the two, Noele winced. "Oh gods, why does he wear that eyesore?" She asked, acting as though the sunlight hitting the shirt in question was somehow blinding in its reflection. "I think it's the same one he wore that night even!"
Niobe snickered before pulling her blinded sister over to the table, and the pair settled into the chairs there. "So, heard you were offering a job for us to do engineering work. This a building or destruction job?" She asked, referencing the kind of tasks the pair typically ended up doing because few wanted to hire them on as ship's engineers. After all, most people heard 'engineer' and thought 'construction' or 'demolition'.
"Crew aboard a refurbished patrol boat, full time, engineering duties. Pay and benefits up for discussion with the cap herself. So thoughts, concerns, wishlist additions, or further jabs at my old man's shirts?", Drake replied with a sly smile. He knew how the girls preferred to operate, and how much they hated this shirt, but hey it was his cover. Though together, well they looked like characters from a bygone era of media.
Noele smiled, and chuckled. "Patrol boat huh? Full time sounds good. Will definitely talk about pay and benefits. Don't want to get stiffed on that. What kind of facilities we talking 'bout? Zuphim or Animalia design? Type of armaments, and what kind of work is the captain typically doing?" She asked, already ticking off things to be worried about.
Niobe shrugged. "I'm more wondering what kind of standards the captain has. I'm guessing not very high considering your attire choices."
Drake brushed off the friendly jab, used to it from them, even though they had known each other only for a brief time. Perhaps it was from just how frequent they tended to be. "On that, you'd be completely right. Independent contracting work, mostly courier, occasional smuggling, and odd jobs. Armaments are minimal, mainly pd batteries and VLS launch tubes. Manufacturer and class are unknown as it's a second, and heavily modified with NDC tech."
Drake sat a small tablet on the table, which projected a small holo of the Fallen Shrine. One a second display that could be swiped to, were the finer details. Best to leave those to paper, as he was neither an engineer, nor a sailor.
Niobe quirked an eyebrow at the explanation. "VLS? On a space ship? The actual hell?" She said, quickly taking the tablet and looking at it. "This is... What the hell is this? It don't look like any kind of ship I've ever seen or even heard of. And what's an NDC?" She asked, having given the ship a good look over from the tablet. Information about the NDC was clearly fairly new to the UNS, and thus people were in the dark about the stellar nation.
Noele, though, leaned back. "Those sound like pretty standard contracting work for a ship. So what, the captain rerig this thing into a hauler?"
“More or less, uses it for running goods largely, on top of it being our ride. As for the NDC, it’s the New Dusk Conclave, my home. Didn't I mention that when we met?”, Drake replied before taking up his coffee for a swig. It’s not like he expected them to remember, but it also felt like something he would have mentioned when they had gotten as far as that night as they had. The man was starting to wonder if that was wishful thinking though, and afterall, forgettable was usually what he tried to go for… for work anyways.
Tipping back the cup for the last bit in the mug, he then sat the empty thing aside. “So, what do you say? Catch your fancy?” Currently he was betting the odds at 50/50 for if they came, but he was almost gut sure of it. “Perhaps maybe mull it over breakfast, my treat?”, he even offered as they took all the info into account, and looked the data over in continued bewilderment.
Noele shrugged. "Never mentioned it any of the times we worked together. Just figured you were an eccentric Zuphin more than anything." She pointed out, but slid the tablet back over. "We'll take the breakfast offer though. Honestly, I know my opinion on this... Niobe?" She continued, before turning her gaze to her twin.
"Fuggit. I'm tired of just demo jobs. Getting a chance to do some engine work in our own way is kind of why we got into the contractor-for-hire business after all." Niobe replied, grinning. "Still getting that breakfast off you Blinder." She finished, picking up on the of the order sheets to look over the options, grinning at her little joke about his shirt.
The man gave a small smirk before ordering a fresh coffee, “Perfect for staying forgettable. If I'm too painful to look at, my face will be the one thing they never remember clearly. That’s how I prefer things, beats keeping my head down with something emo like a hoodie.”
This was one of the things Drake hated about the UNS as he passed the waitress a few more coins for his current round of coffee. At least, he hoped it was coffee, which tasted mostly similar anyways. But it was the fact that with so many nations in this alliance, you had to keep track of multiple currencies if traveling regularly between them. Frankly the whole system seemed very ill built for any sort of standardization, even though it allowed each nation to keep their cultural identity intact quite crisply.
Niobe rolled her eyes. "Nah, they'll remember your face all the better since they want to make sure they can recognize who tried to blind them." She quipped, while ordering her and her sister's breakfast, a 'farmer's breakfast' of sorts, though not exactly the same. Fish instead of bacon for example.
While they waited, Noele leaned on her fist. "So, what's the captain like? Since you're clearly headhunting us for them." She asked, figuring might as well get a sense of who they were working for, even if it wasn't completely accurate considering Drake's... 'quirkiness' to them.
“Well she’s foxy for sure, bit of a grump when things are less then ideal. Not entirely sure on some of this, keep in mind, as I’ve only been on this crew for a short time myself. I forget what your culture calls people who have more animal like features, but she’s a genemod, war vet of sorts too. Carries a big fuck off tri-barrel cannon on her hip to as a sidearm.” Drake sat there for a moment, wondering on just what he could even add at this point.
He really had only been around for a couple of days, having settled into the ship and cased it and its prospects. He wasn’t planning a theft or nothing, but the pair seemed like an odd duo, the doc definitely giving the merc uneven vibes for sure. “Oh yeah, try to avoid mentioning deermods around her, I’ll explain that more, some other time. And be careful of the grandpa onboard, doc kinda has one too many gloves up his ass to me a bit, real shifty fella who’s always tense.”
"We're called Animalia." Noele deadpanned, being bluntly reminded just how Drake could be at times. "So you're saying she's a kitsune." She continued though, with a touch more emotion. "Sounds interesting. Though I'm guessing that cannon of her's is kind of low caliber, right?" She asked, curious at the terms being thrown around, but figuring a deep explanation would wait.
In the meantime, the meals were arriving and Niobe was quick to start digging in.
“Uh no, I mean like this is a literal hand cannon. Lass is shorter then me, and wields the thing like any of us would hold a normal pistol. She would be kitsune if from here, but she’s lab made, as I mentioned, a genemod. They were vat born soldiers from labs during the war or somethin’, lot of ‘em still around even these days.” He had leaned in closer as he began, lowering his voice as he went on.
“I think the doc is a vet too by how he acts, or someone who’s been around uniforms enough to have it rub off. Both got history and baggage, but they aren’t exactly open about the stuff. With how she handles the gun, she probably bench press any of us like weights on a bar.”
Noele paused in her eating, having taken a few bits while Drake spoke. "Uh-huh. That, well, sounds like a lot of crazy. But considering some the other stuff you've presented thus far." She said, before resuming her eating.
Niobe though grinned. "I do gotta wonder though, how could you have a war that is far enough back that you treat it like a full on history lesson, but somehow you've got folks still in the prime of their life from it. You got some kind of magic to extend life?"
Drake seemed to pause, wondering how to explain that to a culture who had never dealt with certain scientific concepts. “Well.. so it wasn’t an extension, but a preservation of it. You know how you keep fresh meat in the freezer right, imagine that, but doing it with people. Millions, frozen in suspended animation, all in pods. Where I come from, the war was over two hundred years ago, my mother would tell me stories about it even. A huge one that lasted over a hundred years, but on a world where we as a people lived long before I was born.”
Taking the pad, Drake began to tap and fiddle with the device, executing a few swipes here and there to pull something up. What he displayed was a digital textbook, and on the page, was a picture of a tan dusty world of sand. “A world all the old folk called Hassan, where my mum was even born. They all left after the war cuz it couldn’t sustain them anymore. So they came here, to this area of space, and set up in the next sector over from here. We live on a world with some local races called Sirris, and that’s where I was born.”
"I think we see. Might have to do a fair bit of reading if the captain takes us aboard. Since we don't know if she'll accept us out of hand. Though, if you're right, shouldn't be a problem." Niobe replied, nodding slowly. "Sounds like you came from a pretty broken world all things considered." She mused.
Noele shrugged, eating more of her food, tails swaying behind her in pleased patterns.
He only gave a shrug in response, “I guess, never saw it, was long before I was born. I only have the stories my mother would tell me, and what they teach us in the university.” Drake tapped the pad with the open history book page in emphasis. “As is, or as I might guess, the captain was a grunt frozen as stock. Salvaged by the founders, then thawed some time recently in the last couple years. Chances are, she’s younger then me, even though technically she should be a granny with how long ago that must of been. Not the weirdest cryo story I've heard though.”
Nodding, Niobe had returned her focus to her food, while Noele wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Right. That must seriously mess up how you track generations of people." She commented, putting the napkin on her emptied plate. "Since, ya know, you got folks from that war mingling with the current generation as equals, not elders." She mused. "So, when should we swing by the ship to interview with the big lady herself?" Noele asked, crossing her arms on the table and leaning forward.
Drake smiled as he pointed to their plates, “As soon as those are clean and I pay the bill. Lass was bitchin’ a storm while in the maintenance ducts this morning, about having to do the work herself. So I took the open excuse to get off the ship with the promise I'd make some calls. To be honest, was almost worried you’d have my number blocked, but seems my luck still holds up.”
"Ain't given us a reason to block your number yet. Admittedly, still pissed you one night stand-ed us the last time. Was bedding both of us that bad?" Noele asked, since Niobe's mouth was still full as she worked on devouring the contents of her plate.
"Especially since you didn't even bother with a note or anything. Were we that bad, or were you that ashamed?"
“Neither. I had a rush job come up that morning.”, he replied earnestly, before scratching the back of his neck for a moment. “Sure you saw the headline and smoke that next morning of what I mean. Had a favor called on an old debt, so I couldn’t say no either. By the time I got back, you both were gone.” Drake signaled for the bill to be brought, already pulling out the coin pouch to start parsing out what he knew he owed for the meal. “To be fair, I figured you’d be pissed, so I avoided calling. Lessen the risk of making things messy either, since things were hot after that job.”
"Ah. So didn't even bother afterwards to see if you needed to cover child support. Got it." Niobe said, having finished her plate and was staring at him like he'd done something incredibly stupid. The pair of them had plotting to drop this little prank on him as payback for the pump and dump he'd done on them, figuring there was likely a solid reason for his doing so, but unwilling to let the chance slide while they had it.
“Oh come on, don’t give my mum a reason to hound me even more about grandbabies. Please tell me they look more like you then me, kids deserve their moms’ charming features more then mine.” He groaned deeply before resting his cheek in a stressed hand. Great, the last thing he needed were kids, he at least wanted to run free for a few more years before settling down. “And no, we are not letting her watch them. I love the woman, but gods be damned if I’m going to let them hang around her and her questionable lifestyle.”
"Oh dear. Guess we'll have to suffer your tastes more than ours then. They look quite like you." Noele remarked, smirking. "And what luck that you got us both knocked up the same night." She said, continuing the prank.
Niobe shrugged. "I mean, we've got our own options for it, but it has been rather rough without the income to cover all the extra expenses."
He groaned again, finding the rabbit hole going deeper by the minute. Pinching the bridge of his nose at annoyance with himself, “What’s their names? I’d like to know my kids’ names, can't be like my own father. And he is never seeing them, last thing I need.”
Noele couldn't help but start laughing now. Same with Niobe. The pair couldn't really keep the prank going right now. "Okay. We can't keep going with this joke right now. No, you don't have a pair of adorable pair of nekomata kiddos from that last dalliance with us." Noele said, grinning, letting that sink in.
“Well I would say fuck you both, but we past that base at this point. Guess my luck holds again. Next time, I want pregnancy tests.” Drake was displeased with the joke, having figured he was about to face a reality that always felt a possibility with his own life habits. “Well you had your fun, and I bought you breakfast, so now we’re even.” The man swigged his coffee in defeat, knowing the twins had gotten the better of him this time.
"Fair enough." Noele said, grinning as the pair stood up and stretched. "So, we hopping a taxi or you got a car of some kind?" she asked, glancing out the door.
As the bill was carried over, Drake handed the waitress a stack of coins. Having overheard part of the conversation earlier, she was flushed as she quickly walked away again. “Ugh, yeah, I borrowed the jeep. Now come on, before you start giving the locals weird ideas about us, or any other public misunderstandings.” Leading the two out, he remotely beeped the vehicle in question with his geist, the jeep chiming to bring attention to it at it’s parking space just across the street.
“Alright, there it is, pile in for adventure and all that shit.”, he commented, having returned to his jesting cover. The vehicle was simple, rugged, and clearly built for frontier roads. Grey in its paint job, the thing only slightly stood out from the local vehicles.
The twins smirked, and climbed in, not seeming to be bothered with the looks people gave as they watched the three rather 'flashy' sorts climb into the jeep. The twins with their barely there outfits, and Drake with his eye-searing shirt.
"So, you really want to avoid kids that much huh? Why not just get snipped?" Niobe asked, leaning on the back of the front passenger seat with a broad grin on her face. Noele was busy fiddling with her bikini top once more, quietly grumbling about the tie getting loose again.
“Bold of you to assume I don’t, I just try to avoid it pulling me into retirement too soon. Want the savings to live comfortably with my family first before that happens.”, he quipped back before shifting the vehicle into drive. Pulling off the side of the road and into traffic, it was a leisurely enough drive through the almost monastic city, everything so gothically ornate, even as modern aesthetics bled in everywhere. A stark reminder to Drake that he was indeed a stranger in a strange land. Even the other cars on the road were strangely ornate, the road itself somehow impossibly smooth cobblestone.
“So the more important question, what have you two been up to since the last time we saw each other? Surely not avoiding trouble knowing you.”, Drake asked as they made their way through traffic.
"Keeping in the normal trouble. Blowing up shit and never getting to actually fix shit." Niobe stated, sighing. "As for kiddoes, don't worry. That savings will vanish quickly." She said, grinning and patting Drake on the shoulder from the back seat, grinning.
Noele huffed, and began to pull off the pauldron and harness she was wearing, and pulling the bikini top off, angrily working at the failing ties she'd had for the top. "Stupid piece of crap. I swear you gave me the broken top Niobe." she stated, not at all bothering to cover herself up as she undid the ties and throw the neck straps over her shoulders, and leaning forward to start doing up the main ties behind her back.
Drake casually adjusted the rearview mirror, trying to ignore that he was being flashed with tiddies. Even as he was slyly sneaking a peak in the corner of his eye, all the while trying to drive steady. “You know, you two are a driving hazard, and even more dangerous by how pretty the two of you are.”, he commented, ignoring the looks from other passing vehicles. Perhaps they should invest in a closed top vehicle in the future, especially if these two join the crew. Though at least, knowing them, this was likely to be common when in the privacy of the ship.
Gods, to think of the fantasies he ended up living out here, that most young men like him, only dreamed of. A foxy tomboy boss, who loves cannons for side arms. Now a pair of neko twins who weren’t shy about letting it all hang out in the open so casually, and were slightly tomboyish as well. Yep he was in some sort of heaven, and likely just a prelude to the deepest hell possible at some point in his future with his luck. His mother would have teased him to no end if she could see him now, knowing the things that he would see regularly around here, and it made him thankful to have gotten away from her.
"Oh is that all?" Niobe asked, grinning. "I thought we were a living hazard considering the work we do." She quipped, leaning back and relaxing in the seat. "And no sister, I didn't give you a broken top. We got them at the same time, at the same place. Not my fault you keep fiddling with it and thusly cause it to fail sooner." She said, shrugging in a disappointed way.
"Oh come off it." Noele shot back, finally getting the bikini back on and into place. "There." She said, nodding.
Disappointed the show was over now, it at least had helped pass the time. With the spaceport now pulling into view, the meeting of the boss was mere moments around the corner. Waving the berth pass to the security, he would then drive on through and to their assigned berth. They were rather simple things, the UNS somehow managing to use a magic based system of stone rings that trailed all the way to orbit. Their ships could follow them all the way safely down to the surface, gliding on the guiding forces of such magical constructs.
Here, they would then hover over the port from above, before they were cleared to land, and mechanical arms pulled them down to rest in water filled berths. Seeing as most such berths were made to accommodate averaged sized craft, the one the fallen shrine waded in was a bit larger then actually needed for her. The ship resting tethered near one side, her ramp down for boarding and going.
Noele whistled long and low as the ship came into view. "Wow, looks less pleasant in person than in the display." She said, looking on as the vehicle pulled into the bay, and winced more as the actual internal state of the ship hit her eyes. "Wow, it's worse than your shirts in here." She stated as though pained, noting the various jury-rigged 'fixes' that filled the various parts of the ship just inside the cargo bay.
Niobe however, was looking around, and noting the few crates currently sitting inside the bay. "Cargo you guys are bringing on or taking off?" She asked, gesturing to the nearest one in question. It was marked with NDC shipping labels and indicators. The crate in question she was pointing to was for a heavy tonnage of steel i-beams to allow for industrial construction.
“Oh that, off going, was the last job on the list on the way here. Currently no other jobs on the docket as I know, as the cap wanted to fill our roster some, before getting back into the thick of work.” After Drake’s reply, he walked over to a nearby intercom panel. “Hey Capitan, I got the two engineering specialists I’d said I’d call up.”, the man called into the audio sensor on the panel.
Niobe and Neole nodded, climbing out of the vehicle, and walking up to stand next to Drake.
"Great, whatever, get your sorry arse to the damned mess hall. The ration pallet you ordered has proven to have problems." Came the voice over the intercom, sounding rather pissed off about something that only it could see at the moment.
"That sounds friendly." Niobe whispered to her sister, who merely shrugged.
Thumb lifting from the key, Drake paused before looking at the twins, “She’s usually quite pleasant”. Waving them along, the merc walked the trio deeper into the ship, and traversed to the deck above. With a short jaunt down the old and rough corridors, the trio would end up in the small galley of the craft, where the shifting of stock in the pantry could be heard. “Hey cap, we’re here, so what’s the nature of your technical emergency?”, he announced in a faux cordial and bedside manner type of tone.
There was a loud clatter and a long string of expletives to follow as Drake came into the galley. "I swear to whatever deity's even exist that I'm tearing this shit out once I have the money to do so!" She finished, storming out of the pantry. Noticing the three, Soap pointed firmly at Drake. "You figure out how to get round storage units to sit in those damned racks in there!" She snapped. Taking several slow calming breaths, she shook her head and tried to settle her fur.
Noele and Niobe glanced at each other a moment and then returned their gaze to the obviously kitsune in front of them. The two tails and vulpine ears were all they needed to know about that. "So, you two are the engineers? Eh, great. Engine rooms thata way." She said, pointing the pair towards the back of the ship. "Since we're not leaving any time soon, either you can get parts of it fixed here, or I just kick you off." She stated, as way of explaining herself. "Food's here, bunks next deck up, bridge is above that. Simple, to the point. Doc's not on board, he's trying to get more supplies to better stock our med bay. Which is between here and the engine room." She continued, before walking over to the three well loaded pallets of what was clearly food items. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get our freezer goods away since it's clearly gonna take longer for the non-perishables."
The captain storming off pushing a cart that was much too large and clearly much too heavy for a kitsune to move definitely nailed that thought on them. "Ooookay. Hey Drake, you gonna be okay?" Niobe asked, wondering if this job was as nice as the pair had thought it would be.
"She's a bit feisty, easily triggered on her temper, but she's been through a lot. She fought in the war, saw a lot of shit people like us rather not think about. Kinda a tsundere." He seemed nonplussed about the whole affair, having grown used to it at this point. "By the way, how good are you at metal working?", Drake seemed to toss in after a moment.
Noele shrugged. "Spot welds, basic fabrication, the like. Don't ask us to build a whole new engine though." She said with a simple tone of someone who was used to answering the question.
Niobe nodded. "We might have to find suppliers for some parts, but so long as we can get the dimensions of things, we can usually get it to work, and if need be, make it ourselves if it's simple enough." She expanded. "I'm guessing the question, though, has nothing to do with our engineering skills."
"Think you could reconfigure that shelf? Should be simple enough, and we have scrap stainless steel on hand if more is needed." Drake gestured to the shelf that had sparked the captain’s ire, the thing a bit cramped and confined to hold much as is, much less anything not above the size, or more round then a normal can. Looking it over briefly before looking back to them, he added “Perhaps spacing the shelves out, making them a bit deeper, and with a more basket like shape?”
Noele poked her head in and looked over the whole thing. "Niobe! This is definitely more your bailiwick for fab than mine." She said, grinning. "If you can find her a torch and the material, she'll get started. Me, I'm gonna poke my head in on the engine." She finished, grinning as she walked off towards the rear of the ship.
Niobe sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fiiiine. Damned Molly!" She huffed, shaking her head. "Anyways... Let's see what we got going on in here." She remarked, squeezing into the pantry behind Drake, not even thinking twice about how she was pressing against him to get through the door. "Hmmm... Yeah, this is definitely more my thing than Noele. Give me a day and a half, discounting sleep, food and other biology needs, and you'll have an entirely new rigged up pantry." She stated, once she thought on it while looking around the room. "I would see if I could knock the hull back a bit, but I'm not sure how stable things are just yet. So! I'll just focus right now on fitting in the space we got." She concluded, nodding.
Drake said nothing, only silently enjoyed as heaven pressed across his side. Now he remembered why he was so eager to be roped in that night at the beach. “Uh yeah, I can get you that, and I’ll even cook meals so you don’t go hungry. Lavatory is down the hall and on the right by the way.”, he said a moment after she was speaking, the tiddy induced lag passing quickly with trained ease. “I’ll get the tools and metal, then go check on your sis.”
"Good on ya. Oh, also, get me a measuring tool." She said. Sure, she could probably eyeball it pretty easily, but having actually usable measurements would help long term, since it'd also give her a sense of the space more accurately for repairs and spot jobs when needed.
“Right, let me get the ruler and measure conversion chart.”, Drake added before finally stepping away to find said list of items spoken of. “I hope you like centimeters and meters!”, he called back to her part way down the hall.