What We Built Without You: The Remainders' encampment

[Lavender]

Had it not been for the physical labor, the short pause in Betua's response might have been more noticeable. Xe were usually far quicker to respond when they could leverage xer skills and knowledge. But of course no one can know everything, and Lav would never judge an intelligent being for not knowing the things they do not know. Judgement was reserved for beings that believed they knew when - in fact - they knew nothing.

But there was physical labor being done, so the good Doctor's hesitance flew right over Lavender's head.

"Of course, Lavender," xe says with false bravado. "It's only polite of us to return their remains and only polite of them to dispose of their own mess."

Lav let out a little grunt of exasperation as they got the corpse they were dragging leaning up against a corridor wall so they could peek around and make sure the way was clear. The Captain would have come this direction to find Xi'asz. So there were several possible realities to consider around each corner. Reality one: the Captain had left more dead in her wake, which meant more to clean up. Depending on the size of the raiding party, this could become quite the hassle, Lav decided.

Reality two: The Captain would be engaged in combat with a continued assault on the Siren and its crew. This seemed the lowest likelihood. For one, only two raiders had been at the bridge. Had the raiding party been larger, the bridge raid would have had more soldiers in tow. There would have been a bigger fire fight. Only two indicated a small. "elite" force that clearly - clearly - underestimated the willingness of a skeleton crew on a suicide mission to be brutal in the case of an enemy attack. For two, the corridors were too quiet for pitched combat. Which meant that reality two could be supplanted with reality "two-b": that the hallway was simply empty.

Which brought Lav to reality three: That the Captain was dead. Shot down turning a corridor too quickly without checking her corners the way Xi'asz had conditioned and been re-conditioning all of them to consider. This reality, also, felt improbable. Not that Lav thought the Captain was invincible, they knew far better, but that she would make it everyone's problem if she was dying. Which meant it still wouldn't be a quiet hallway where Captain Kyeera met her end. No, that would probably be a loud death.

Back to the corridor wall, Lav slipped the snub-nosed blaster pistol off their hip and slowly peeked to determine their reality. "Empty.." they said with a sigh, re-holstering the pistol and looking down at the Thriviex corpse. "I am starting to suspect we have been underestimated Doctor Argent." It was difficult to say if Lav was disappointed, relieved, or expressing some notion of sarcasm with the statement. Their shoulders did slump with a sigh, however. Back to physical labor.

A few more corridors, as few more stops. A few more perimeter checks, a few more held breaths and drawn pistols only to put them back. More physical labor. Slow physical labor.

"I know it's been a while," Kyeera calls out, turning her attention from the patched breach to the newcomers on the scene. "But this isn't the way to the airlock." Folding her arms, she erects a posture reminiscent of a headmistress, oozing disappointment and silently demanding an explanation.

"Ah, it seems we have found it, Doctor." Lav said with no small amount of relief as they found the location of the breach. Pushing the corpse up against the corridor again, Lav rolled a shoulder as they took a proper break. Stepping over the body toward the Captain, they inspected the breach into the side of the ship, "The airlock did not convey the appropriate message, Captain Kyeera. It was my recommendation that we engage in counter-operations appropriate for the offense. It is a standard operating procedure in some cultures to inform the attacker of their miss and that we are aware of their missed attack. And to send a message that the attacking party should watch themselves in the future. We are aware of their motivations now. I believe that Xi'asz would refer to this as a scare tactic. He seemed to greatly approve of this line of operations when we last discussed it."

Truthfully, Lav had no idea if Xi'asz would approve of the Zyrrhax methods, but they did recall him speaking at least somewhat positively about the tactic. The idea had merit - at least it would - had Lav realized Xi'asz had already patched the hole and cut off the attack. Smart, admittedly, "Ah..this is why there were so few then.." they chimed as they looked at the patch in the hull more closely, trying to hide their dissatisfaction with having dragged a corpse all the way here just to discover their mistake.

[Kyeera Hastur]

"Ah, it seems we have found it, Doctor." Lav said with no small amount of relief as they found the location of the breach. Pushing the corpse up against the corridor again, Lav rolled a shoulder as they took a proper break. Stepping over the body toward the Captain, they inspected the breach into the side of the ship, "The airlock did not convey the appropriate message, Captain Kyeera. It was my recommendation that we engage in counter-operations appropriate for the offense. It is a standard operating procedure in some cultures to inform the attacker of their miss and that we are aware of their missed attack. And to send a message that the attacking party should watch themselves in the future. We are aware of their motivations now. I believe that Xi'asz would refer to this as a scare tactic. He seemed to greatly approve of this line of operations when we last discussed it."

Truthfully, Lav had no idea if Xi'asz would approve of the Zyrrhax methods, but they did recall him speaking at least somewhat positively about the tactic. The idea had merit - at least it would - had Lav realized Xi'asz had already patched the hole and cut off the attack. Smart, admittedly, "Ah..this is why there were so few then.." they chimed as they looked at the patch in the hull more closely, trying to hide their dissatisfaction with having dragged a corpse all the way here just to discover their mistake.

Kyeera cocks an eyebrow as she listens to Lav's explanation of their plan to teach their assailants a lesson. To her credit, she listens far more patiently than she may have in the past, but this may be due to the fact that this exchange was mildly amusing to her. She thinks, at first, to hesitate to bring up some of the flaws in that plan, but as Lav takes note of the sealed off breach, she thinks that this could be an effective teaching moment. An opportunity to shake off the rust.

"It's not a bad idea," she admits, taking another close look at the Thriviex corpses and a worn out Dr. Argent, "But with several flaws. First, we are a crew of five. A fairly competent crew of five, but the numbers are against us if we decide to storm onto an enemy ship. Secondly, and as you seem to have already gathered, we are no longer attached to our assailants."

Taking a closer look at the equipment brought along (especially the breach charge), she smirks, "And I most certainly do not recommend opening that hole back up to boot this trash out unless you want to go swimming through the stars with them... but it does give me an idea."

With a sly look, she gives out new orders. "You two, give me those corpses, I'm taking them to the airlock where they belong. Argent, you run back to the bridge and adjust our course, just enough to bring the enemy up on our broadside, in sight of the airlock. They should still be reeling from the damage Xi'asz caused. Lav... I believe we have a sufficient number of breach charges stocked in munitions storage. Bring as many as you're able to carry as well as a canister of cold-resistant adhesive spray. We don't want our little present scattering before it can reach its intended recipient."

[Betua Argent]

Back to the corridor wall, Lav slipped the snub-nosed blaster pistol off their hip and slowly peeked to determine their reality. "Empty.." they said with a sigh, re-holstering the pistol and looking down at the Thriviex corpse. "I am starting to suspect we have been underestimated Doctor Argent." It was difficult to say if Lav was disappointed, relieved, or expressing some notion of sarcasm with the statement. Their shoulders did slump with a sigh, however. Back to physical labor.

A few more corridors, as few more stops. A few more perimeter checks, a few more held breaths and drawn pistols only to put them back. More physical labor. Slow physical labor.

"How novel," Betua says, voice dry as kindling. Xe grunts as xe continues to drag the corpse down the corridor.

"I know it's been a while," Kyeera calls out, turning her attention from the patched breach to the newcomers on the scene. "But this isn't the way to the airlock." Folding her arms, she erects a posture reminiscent of a headmistress, oozing disappointment and silently demanding an explanation.

"Ah, it seems we have found it, Doctor." Lav said with no small amount of relief as they found the location of the breach. Pushing the corpse up against the corridor again, Lav rolled a shoulder as they took a proper break. Stepping over the body toward the Captain, they inspected the breach into the side of the ship, "The airlock did not convey the appropriate message, Captain Kyeera. It was my recommendation that we engage in counter-operations appropriate for the offense. It is a standard operating procedure in some cultures to inform the attacker of their miss and that we are aware of their missed attack. And to send a message that the attacking party should watch themselves in the future. We are aware of their motivations now. I believe that Xi'asz would refer to this as a scare tactic. He seemed to greatly approve of this line of operations when we last discussed it."

Truthfully, Lav had no idea if Xi'asz would approve of the Zyrrhax methods, but they did recall him speaking at least somewhat positively about the tactic. The idea had merit - at least it would - had Lav realized Xi'asz had already patched the hole and cut off the attack. Smart, admittedly, "Ah..this is why there were so few then.." they chimed as they looked at the patch in the hull more closely, trying to hide their dissatisfaction with having dragged a corpse all the way here just to discover their mistake.

Kyeera's tone inspires embarrassment and panic in equal measure in Betua, which only worsens as it transpires that Lavender evidently made an erroneous assumption about the accessibility of the hostile ship. Xer growing dismay takes on a logarithmic quality as it occurs to xem that xe really should know better by now than to blindly trust Lav's assessments. Perhaps xe could just throw xemself out the airlock along with the corpses.

With a sly look, she gives out new orders. "You two, give me those corpses, I'm taking them to the airlock where they belong. Argent, you run back to the bridge and adjust our course, just enough to bring the enemy up on our broadside, in sight of the airlock. They should still be reeling from the damage Xi'asz caused. Lav... I believe we have a sufficient number of breach charges stocked in munitions storage. Bring as many as you're able to carry as well as a canister of cold-resistant adhesive spray. We don't want our little present scattering before it can reach its intended recipient."

Betua feels pathetically grateful at this turn of events—an opportunity to prove xemself despite xer mistake, an excuse to absent xemself from the presence of Kyeera and Lav, and xe doesn't have to continue lugging around a corpse. "Yes, Captain." Betua jogs back down the corridor to the bridge.

Settling in at the flight controls, Betua considers the best course of action. An adjustment to bring them closer to their assailants will immediately raise suspicion, and may prompt them to alter their own course to maintain safe positioning. Xe begins by putting a bit of wobble into their course, suggestive of a pilot distracted by panic and disorder. The adrenaline backwash at xer brush with the Captain's displeasure adds a bit of versimilitude there. Xe then starts to pull away, as though intending to make a run for it, prompting their attackers to move in closer. Xe uses the jockeying for position to move into the broadside orientation called for. Betua thumbs the comm. "K-Coming into position now."

[Xi’asz Séalgair]

"Stars and comets!" Tik says in a high-pitched, drawling mimic of... well, not a Thriviex voice. Not enough clickety-clacking. Some sort of voice. "You're awfully handy with that slice-y thing of yours, M. Xi'asz! I don't know what we were thinking, trying to board your ship. My deepest apologies for sliming up your floors, sir!"

Tik pokes their head out around the detached head, which does indeed continue to drip ichor on the floor, and adds, "That means thank you, by the way. I think you saved my life, if my conjecture and predictions are any indication."

Xi'asz took Tik's display of macabre puppetry the way he took in a good deal of his interations with them: he blinked and looked for the right words, then settled on just blinking a second time and shaking his head.

He'd not exactly forgotten how full of...foibles Tik was, but he didn't know how much of that old Tik remained after the last mission. A fair bit, apparently. Still, of all the crew he felt the most protective over them, and instantly remembered why he felt it necessary to watch over Tik like a younger clutchmate.

"Right," he said, taking the head from Tik and holding it under his arm while grabbing one of the Thriviex's legs in his other hand and dragging it into the hall toward the airlock.

"You're welcome. C'mon, let's go clean up the mess and then check my patch job to see how far it'll take us. Hopefully it'll last until...well, can you plot an estimate to these coordinates?," he asked, rattling them off to Tik. "I think we can make it there where I've got some resources that we should keep quiet about until we arrive, got it?"

The corpse's leg popped off from its adbdomen as he pulled on it. His hulking shoulders drooped a bit and a sharp sigh escaped him. He handed the leg to Tik and grabbed another one, dragging it more gingerly than before.

[Kyeera Hastur]

Betua feels pathetically grateful at this turn of events—an opportunity to prove xemself despite xer mistake, an excuse to absent xemself from the presence of Kyeera and Lav, and xe doesn't have to continue lugging around a corpse. "Yes, Captain." Betua jogs back down the corridor to the bridge.

Kyeera watches Betua as she leaves, waiting until she turns the corner before looking at Lav. There's a mixture of pity and anger in her eyes as she grinds her teeth in frustration as the situation caused by Lav's negligence. It could only have been her that let this happen, given her position on the proximity scanners. But now wasn't the time, and given what she could gather of Lav's state, she doubted much of what she said would get through to her anyway.

"We can discuss what happened later," she says simply, deftly using her central tendril to lift the arms of the Thriviex corpses to her hand and beginning to drag them, one-handed, towards the airlock.

**********

Settling in at the flight controls, Betua considers the best course of action. An adjustment to bring them closer to their assailants will immediately raise suspicion, and may prompt them to alter their own course to maintain safe positioning. Xe begins by putting a bit of wobble into their course, suggestive of a pilot distracted by panic and disorder. The adrenaline backwash at xer brush with the Captain's displeasure adds a bit of versimilitude there. Xe then starts to pull away, as though intending to make a run for it, prompting their attackers to move in closer. Xe uses the jockeying for position to move into the broadside orientation called for. Betua thumbs the comm. "K-Coming into position now."

Betua's message comes in just as Lav returns with the breach charges and adhesive spray. Kyeera makes quick work of affixing the explosives to various portions of the corpses, tangling the bodies together and coating the monstrosity she's created in thick layers of the adhesive.

Satisfied, she opens the airlocks inner doors and shoves the makeshift bomb into it with her foot. Thus is present a new problem. The airlock itself will propel the ordinance as it expels air into the void of space, but not nearly at enough speed to reach the other ship before it has a chance to see what is happening and take evasive maneuvers.

To solve this, Kyeera indelicately shoves the canister of half-empty adhesive into an uncomfortable crevice facing their side of the door and closes the airlock.

Crossing her arms, she leans next to the panel and presses the button to initiate the expulsion of their payload. "Question for you, Lav," she asks casually. "What happens to pressurized containers when exposed to the vacuum of space?"

As if in answer, the outer door of the airlock opens with a soft whisssh, shortly followed by a loud POP as the canister explodes from the pressure change, sending the Thriviex bomb shooting through the empty void.

"I hope everyone likes fireworks," Kyeera announces, pressing the comm button on her wrist to speak to the entire crew. "Dr. Argent, please confirm status of enemy vessel in 5... 4... 3..."

Two seconds later, the silent shock wave of the explosion buffets against the hull.

[Lavender]

"It's not a bad idea," she admits, taking another close look at the Thriviex corpses and a worn out Dr. Argent, "But with several flaws. First, we are a crew of five. A fairly competent crew of five, but the numbers are against us if we decide to storm onto an enemy ship. Secondly, and as you seem to have already gathered, we are no longer attached to our assailants."

Taking a closer look at the equipment brought along (especially the breach charge), she smirks, "And I most certainly do not recommend opening that hole back up to boot this trash out unless you want to go swimming through the stars with them... but it does give me an idea."

With a sly look, she gives out new orders. "You two, give me those corpses, I'm taking them to the airlock where they belong. Argent, you run back to the bridge and adjust our course, just enough to bring the enemy up on our broadside, in sight of the airlock. They should still be reeling from the damage Xi'asz caused. Lav... I believe we have a sufficient number of breach charges stocked in munitions storage. Bring as many as you're able to carry as well as a canister of cold-resistant adhesive spray. We don't want our little present scattering before it can reach its intended recipient."

"Yes. I see the error.." there was something so formulaic in Lav's response. Close to their normal chime but somehow just off. They had been looking ahead, but not far enough. Or just not thinking to consider that the secondary minor concussive shock may have been attributed to the crew's own countermeasures.

Looking down at the breach charges they had carried, they nodded, "These belonged to Parallel. I thought it best to simply return them in kind."

"We can discuss what happened later," she says simply, deftly using her central tendril to lift the arms of the Thriviex corpses to her hand and beginning to drag them, one-handed, towards the airlock.

They took one last look at the patchwork on the hull, wondering just how well it would continue to hold and if their first priority should be to perform a proper seal. That would be the more appropriate suggestion. What Lav would have suggested? Their eyes looked a bit lost in that thought as the Captain speaks in a low tone and begins dragging the corpse of the Thriviex soldier away. "Yes, Captain Kyeera.." they said simply.

Crossing her arms, she leans next to the panel and presses the button to initiate the expulsion of their payload. "Question for you, Lav," she asks casually. "What happens to pressurized containers when exposed to the vacuum of space?"

As if in answer, the outer door of the airlock opens with a soft whisssh, shortly followed by a loud POP as the canister explodes from the pressure change, sending the Thriviex bomb shooting through the empty void.

"I hope everyone likes fireworks," Kyeera announces, pressing the comm button on her wrist to speak to the entire crew. "Dr. Argent, please confirm status of enemy vessel in 5... 4... 3..."

Two seconds later, the silent shock wave of the explosion buffets against the hull.

By the time they had returned to the Captain with the requested munitions, it had become apparent what the overarching plan would be. Lav watched silently, seemingly unconcerned with the treatment of the corpses and how the Captain had to get creative at time to make them all fit together appropriately.

"Once released, the canister will quickly.." they began to say just as the soft whisssh of air releasing into the vacuum was combined with the audible *POP*. Stepping a bit closer to observe, Lav could see as the small groupings of body parts - it was wrong to call them corpses anymore - propelled away from the ship in a brief moment before the airlock closed and resealed again. A few seconds later, and a minor vibration could be felt and heard along with the glimmer of an intense, brief light coming from the small window in the exterior hatch of the airlock before what looked like debris began floating past in the emptiness of space.

"I believe they have received the message, Captain Kyeera.."

[Tikreta]

"Right," he said, taking the head from Tik and holding it under his arm while grabbing one of the Thriviex's legs in his other hand and dragging it into the hall toward the airlock.

"You're welcome. C'mon, let's go clean up the mess and then check my patch job to see how far it'll take us. Hopefully it'll last until...well, can you plot an estimate to these coordinates?," he asked, rattling them off to Tik. "I think we can make it there where I've got some resources that we should keep quiet about until we arrive, got it?"

The corpse's leg popped off from its adbdomen as he pulled on it. His hulking shoulders drooped a bit and a sharp sigh escaped him. He handed the leg to Tik and grabbed another one, dragging it more gingerly than before.

Tik beamed at Xi'asz's response. Humor was so hard when you couldn't communicate mind-to-mind to provide the necessary nonverbal cues for context, so it was awfully reassuring that Xi'asz still took their jokes in stride. Their research suggests that an ideal response would be laughter, but secondary to that was a lack of obvious irritation. Tik makes a mental note to rededicate themselves to achieving the ideal response, which of course will take a number of new trials to collect a suitable sample size for construction of highly effective jokes.

At Xi'asz's request, Tik opens a window on their datapad, a tiny holographic map of their stellar sector coming to life above its surface. "I'm not familiar with that system," Tik muses aloud as they run the calculations. "With a well-plotted jump and current fuel and power consumption rates, I estimate 4.73 standard hours. Plus or minus 0.06. I am intrigued about these 'resources'. But I have decided that for this standard week, I like surprises, so I won't ask further."

They cheerfully take the offered leg and sling it over their shoulder before following Xi'asz.

That's when the shockwave hits the ship.

"Oh dear! Another boarding action?"

[Betua Argent]

"I hope everyone likes fireworks," Kyeera announces, pressing the comm button on her wrist to speak to the entire crew. "Dr. Argent, please confirm status of enemy vessel in 5... 4... 3..."

Two seconds later, the silent shock wave of the explosion buffets against the hull.

"Standing by," Betua responds As xe monitors the enemy ship through the Siren's sensors. Xe then winces as the shockwave from the blast jostles the ship. "Enemy ship shows signs of venting atmosphere, electrical failure, indicating a severe hull breach and failure of emergency containment." Those in other parts of the enemy ship might be able to prolong their air supply by sealing compartments, so such a wound would not necessarily prove fatal, but they would be devoting serious resources to stopping the bleeding. The fact that they are not immediately either taking evasive action or retaliating speaks to how occupied they must be. "Orders?"

[Kyeera Hastur]

"Once released, the canister will quickly.." they began to say just as the soft whisssh of air releasing into the vacuum was combined with the audible *POP*. Stepping a bit closer to observe, Lav could see as the small groupings of body parts - it was wrong to call them corpses anymore - propelled away from the ship in a brief moment before the airlock closed and resealed again. A few seconds later, and a minor vibration could be felt and heard along with the glimmer of an intense, brief light coming from the small window in the exterior hatch of the airlock before what looked like debris began floating past in the emptiness of space.

"I believe they have received the message, Captain Kyeera.."

"One can only hope so," Kyeera breathed out solemnly. Leaning against the bulkhead, she didn't bother to look out of any of the nearby portholes to watch the attack. Merely feeling the buffeting of the explosion was sufficient. But still, she didn't look pleased. She looked tired.

The old Kyeera would probably be sporting a cocky smirk or be watching the carnage with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. Now... now its like she couldn't be bothered to do anything other than confirm her plan had worked.

"Standing by," Betua responds As xe monitors the enemy ship through the Siren's sensors. Xe then winces as the shockwave from the blast jostles the ship. "Enemy ship shows signs of venting atmosphere, electrical failure, indicating a severe hull breach and failure of emergency containment." Those in other parts of the enemy ship might be able to prolong their air supply by sealing compartments, so such a wound would not necessarily prove fatal, but they would be devoting serious resources to stopping the bleeding. The fact that they are not immediately either taking evasive action or retaliating speaks to how occupied they must be. "Orders?"

Taking a deep breath in, she seems satisfied with the report. Pushing away from the bulkhead, she begins to make her way back towards the bridge. But not before issuing a command to all personnel from her com.

"The enemy has been neutralized, at least for the time being. Let us find a place to lick our wounds before they recover from theirs. I'm open to any suggestions," she announces, leaving the line open so that someone else can speak up on the open channel and provide Betua with a destination to lead them towards.