#v: spatial

[thatrudeengineer]

[RP] - Gifted, my arse

@bvlvnhan

Beep. Beep. Beep.

That was the first thing that entered Serik's consciousness. The incessant beeping nearby. It took him an absurdly long time to realise it was probably from a machine. Something close...

The second thing that registered to him was that it was a little difficult to breathe. His mouth was dry. His head was full of cotton-- Ah, might explain why he was struggling to figure out what the sound was...

Then he realised it was dark. And immediately after, he realised that was because his eyes were closed. He forced them open -- it took far more effort than he'd be willing to admit. For a second, he was blinded. Blinded by the bright lights around him. Or maybe it was just the room that was bright. He was dizzy...

He hissed, and tried to shift- to bring his arm up to block the light-- But something stopped him.

For a few dumb moments, he couldn't figure out why. His mind was fuzzy... What happened to him...?

His eyes finally adjusted to the light and he stared blankly for a moment. A ceiling. The kind he never wanted to be under... Machines, hooked to him-- And-- shit, were those restraints around his wrists?

He yanked on one, and it held with a clang of metal on metal. Shit shit shit-- He could feel tension rising as his situation slowly dawned on him, along with the accelerating beeps of the monitor, replacing the sluggishness of his mind. Fuck- Fuck-- Fuck-- This was a goddamn hospital- How the fuck did he end up here--

He tried to sit up, but a sudden, searing pain in his abdomen quickly sent him back down. He hissed, seeing stars for a moment. But oh yeah, that jolted his mind enough. He remembered now what happened.

Fucking goddammit. He got fucking shot. He was sightseeing on this new inhabited planet he landed on, getting ready to refuel and restock, when he got fucking shot.

Okay, it didn't happen out of the blue, he should have seen it coming, but he hadn't expected him, fucking Ster, one of his ex-colleagues, to shoot him. Hell, he hadn't even expected to see him after nearly a decade of disappearance. On his side.

But he didn't have time to dwell on that right now. Ster obviously must have left him for dead -- though Serik actually didn't remember what happened after. All he remembered was blanking out and the cold hard ground against his face -- and someone must have found him and brought him to the closest hospital.

Oh shit, oh fuck. Exactly what he needed to avoid, and here he was. With his damn luck, they probably restrained him because they noticed what he was now. Not that this was exactly hard to miss.

Shit, he needed to get out of here.

ASAP.

He took as deep a breath as he could, held it, and forced himself to sit up despite the pain. He gritted his teeth, hissing as he pulled on the restraints to try and break it. It had been years now since he changed, but he still wasn't used to properly using his newfound strength. He just hoped it would be enough--

Something clicked towards the door, and Serik froze, his wide-eyed gaze snapping to the door, his whole body so tense it shook as he watched it open.

[thatrudeengineer]

[RP] - A Rocky Start

@astrophager

There were few things Serik loves more than to explore the cosmos. He had spent most of his life out in deep space, and even more so in the last few years, but he didn't think he could ever tire of it.

It wasn't always fun, of course. Sometimes there were pirates. Other times, he got caught in an asteroid belts. Others yet again, he found himself dangerously low on resources at the worst of times.

It wasn't always fun. But it was always interesting. Always thrilling. And it always made him want to go back out again to see what else he could find out there.

That day cycle, he was taking Rutile out for a spin after parking Pyrite on a nearby planetoid, when he saw it.

A distress signal.

It sent a chill down his spine. Part excitement, part anticipation. Distress signals were always -- if not fun -- interesting. He could never know what it would be. It could be old salvage that was still emitting well after its occupants' death. It could be someone in actual distress. It could be a trap. Anything was possible.

He grinned through his helmet and pressed a few buttons in the cockpit. "Let's check that out, yeah?" he told his ship, even though she had neither AI nor even a voice to answer him with. It didn't matter, she was still his baby and his best friend. "Jus' gotta find the source and... there!" He patted her dashboard as if to congratulate her, plotted the course to the signal, and got going.

What he found at the source of the signal was... not underwhelming, per se, but...

He tilted his head as he slowly approached the structure, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Well.

First of all, it wasn't destroyed. That was a good thing at least. And, well... According to his scans, it was still running. Maybe not operational, but there was power. And some sort of fuel source, even if he couldn't make sense of whatever the fuck that was.

But the... the ship? He had never seen one like that, it almost looked like those old ships he'd seen on archives from Old Earth. And yet, not quite... But the ship... It looked like it was just floating there, rather than heading anywhere, which was a cause for worry.

He brought Rutile a little closer, matching speed with the spacecraft, and opened communication channels. Hopefully, one of those would reach the unknown craft.

"Rutile here. You sent a district signal. Are you in need of assistance?"

[thatrudeengineer]

[RP] - Just picking flowers, I swear

@ensnchekov

The feeling of déjà vu was powerful and highly unpleasant, when Serik saw the Federation starship approach his spacecraft. They were unmistakable with their wide, circular dish. And while that was a different shape from the freighter he once boarded what seemed like a lifetime ago, it still sent him back...

It brought a bitter taste to the back of his throat, tension rising in his guts. It was just his luck the Federation would be the one answering his distress call. Dammit...

But he knew he had little choice but to board this ship. His own was now stranded after a dogfight, the remnant of which were still scattered nearby. Bits and pieces of the attacking ships floating around -- probably alongside bits and pieces of the pirates who used to pilot them, but Serik didn't want to think about this too long...

He had come out on top. But while he could go outside to repair most of the damage -- at least enough to make an emergency landing somewhere for further repairs -- his ship's tank had been pierced. He was fucking lucky it didn't blow up her whole engine, but he was still stranded. All her fuel had scattered and spread in her trail, and even if he could patch the tank itself, he was still out of fuel and functioning on emergency power.

So he sent out a distress signal, ready to fend off some more pirates if he needed to. What answered, though, wasn't pirates.

In some ways, it was worse.

He took a deep breath and sat back down in the pilot seat when the Federation ship hailed him. The USS Enterprise, it was called. He rolled his eyes, if only to fend off his nervousness, and pressed the button to send back a response.

"Pyrite's pilot here, civilian-class cargo ship. Been stranded following an attack. All I need is repairs and a refuel. Requesting permission to board..."

Civilian-class was a bit of a stretch when it came to Pyrite, given her home-made specifications. But he hoped they wouldn't be looking too deep into that. Or into the cargo he was transporting. Or at his fighter-class ship Rutile, all custom-made and lovingly tucked away in Pyrite's bay.

Yeah, he was fucked.

Still. Enterprise responded with their OK and opened up their hatch. Like a gaping maw, it greeted him, and Serik had to take another deep breath to keep down his anxiety. This was such a fucking bad idea. He knew when he would enter, but who knew when he'd be able to leave...

He wasn't twenty-two anymore though. Hopefully, it would be different this time.

Another deep breath and he slowly directed Pyrite towards the hatch on her emergency power. He landed her, the hatch closed behind him, the airlock cycled... Fuck. There was no going back now.

He sat for a moment in silence, gathering his courage. His hands shook a little as he watched some of the Enterprise crew assemble close by, probably to 'greet' him. Shit... Bayu was going to kill him. But again, there was no going back now...

At least, he wasn't there because he was being arrested (yet), he reminded himself. Small mercies.

He got up at last, put on his helmet and gathered a couple of weapons -- just in case -- before approaching Pyrite's hatch. Another deep breath and he hit the release button, warily standing at the top of the ramp as he looked at the people there, his weapon held at rest in front of him, pointed towards the ground.

There was a moment of tense silence -- that's how it felt to him at least -- before he called out to them, not budging from where he stood, "I just need some repairs an' a refuel, then I'll be on my way..." He shifted his hold on his weapon, anxiously waiting for their reaction.

[thatrudeengineer]

"Serik an engineer like Rocky? Amaze! Amaze!"

@rockscng

Serik leaned down to look better at the talking rock through his helmet's visor, before actually sitting down cross legged on the floor to be more at the other being's level.

He'd seen all sorts of things in his travels, so a rock creature that spoke through songs with a translator tapped to it shouldn't be all that surprising at this point... But every time he saw Rocky, he still couldn't help but be amazed.

The day the wonders of space stopped to amaze him would be the day he was dead, he suspected.

"Yeah! Yeah, Serik engineer too," he confirmed, not even thinking as he somewhat imitated the other's speech pattern. He set aside his tools for now. He could continue the repairs later. "Rocky engineer then? That's amazin'!" he agreed with a little laugh.

"What Rocky do? Show me? Rocky got some projects t' show?" He grinned wider.

[thatrudeengineer]

[ stare ] your muse staring mine down . (Onyxstorm)

Non-sexual acts of dominance || Always accepting @midnight-influence, thank you for sending it in!

Serik stared right back, quite wary and uncertain, although he did his best not to show it too much on his face. It didn't work too well, especially when he tried staring her down in turn, despite their significant size difference.

".... What?" He finally grumbled, still on guard. "Somethin' on my face..? Y' can quit starin' now..." He'd never seen a being like this before... He would have called her a machine or a robot or something... if she didn't feel so alien. Serik knew machines. He had a two beautiful ships after all. But this? This here wasn't a mere machine.

Shit. Machines didn't stare you down like that after all.

He swallowed back his nervousness, shifting his stance slightly as if to brace himself if she decided she had enough of staring and did something else instead. "Y'know... um... 'f you want somethin' from me, y' gonna have t' use your words..."

[thatrudeengineer]

[RP] - Fearmongering

@fexrbound

Space was vast. And every time Serik was out there on his own, exploring its immensity, he was always reminded of that fact. It was vast, it was beautiful, it could be merciless, and it was all worth it. There was always more to see. More to explore. More to discover.

It was the very reason Serik went out again and again. The very reason he often lost himself to exploration and spent far longer out there than he meant to, rather than heading home again.

In space, time had the tendency to become meaningless. In a small ship like Pyrite -- and a yet smaller ship like his Rutile -- the day-night cycle was quickly forgotten. Life was punctuated by basic needs -- of the pilot, of the ship -- and by the occasional discovery.

But space was vast, and the occurrences of anything happening, few and far between.

So when something pinged Pyrite's scanner just when Serik was getting out of a quick shower, he dropped everything and excitedly went back to the deck to check it out.

"Shit..."

It was gone. He deflated a little. Had that just been an anomaly...? Or was it something else...? The possibility that it could be something hidden, just waiting to be discovered, had him locking in. He quickly finished drying his hair with a towel and started analysing the data, looking through logs to try and figure out if the tiny ping was something worth investigating.

It wouldn't be the first time he stumbled on something, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. This was what he lived for, honestly. To discover the unknown and feel that thrill.

It took him some time, but before long, he was reasonably sure this wasn't just an error in the readings, but the potential for something else. It looked like some sort of energy source. Something on a spectrum he'd never seen before. He found himself daydreaming about what he might find. What sort of ancient traces of civilisation he might stumble on. What sort of technology. What he might be able to bring home.

He set course for what his calculations showed as the likely source of that little ping. It was gone by now, so he had little hopes that it would be fully exact, but maybe it'd emit again and he could adjust the course. He had the signature now. He wouldn't miss it.

---

As time passed, Serik quickly lost track of time again. The strange energy signature did come back here and there, allowing Serik to adjust the course until, eventually, he came upon an unknown planet in an unknown galaxy, in an unknown sector of space. Unknown to him, at least.

He parked Pyrite in the shadow of a nearby moon, and hopped into his Rutile to make the trip down to the surface. He strapped himself in, sealed up his helmet, did the preflight checks... And then he was off.

A thick atmosphere prevented him from getting any proper readings from the planet. But that had never stopped him before. He flew over the planet for a moment, found the orbit, and then slowly started his descent into the atmosphere. Blind.

What he expected to find underneath was wilderness. Ruins, maybe, if he was lucky. Traces of an ancient civilisation now abandoned to time and forgotten. That would make his whole trip worth it.

Oh, how wrong he was.

His breath caught when he finally cleared the thick clouds.

There was a settlement alright. But it was no ruin.

There were people there. Living people. And now that he was below the cloud cover, Rutile's scanner picked up a plethora of energy signatures.

Stunned by the discovery, he flew over it then did a u-turn to approach again and land some few ways away. He didn't want to spook the locals.

Well, he didn't want to spook them more than he might have already by flying right over their homes with a fighter-type spaceship.

He landed Rutile, gathered his armament, and unsealed the cockpit. It looked like the atmosphere was breathable for humans like him, but he didn't quite trust it enough just yet to remove his helmet. Maybe once the in-depth analysis was done, he would.

With that done, he started making his way towards the settlement to greet the locals and maybe understand better what the energy signature he'd picked up even was.