032: Take What You Can – One
After rerouting to Zymeth space, the crew of the Pelekys ended up going back to bed. There wasn't anything for them to do to prepare beyond get a good night's rest, after all.
But the morning saw them up bright and early, brimming with excitement about the careers they would soon be kicking off.
"We've gotta film character intros," Rhea was saying excitedly as she held up a data pad, on which were playing several different clips of other Kith members, "We need to start the hype train going before we get on with our mission!"
"Stealing a Storlayacas from a Zymeth museum," Pryseia mused, her prosthetic eye - this model completely gold with a cobalt blue reticle in the centre of it - glinting dangerously, "That does beg the question, however: shall we broadcast out endeavour live, or record it to release an edited version afterwards?"
"My opinion is to record it," Elytra said, "It's going to be our first time performing as our personas, and if I'm being honest, I don't know that I'll be able to, hm, stay in character? Having footage we can put together, at this stage in our careers at least, might be better for the image we're trying to craft with this whole thing."
"I second that." Nevara said around a mouthful of breakfast.
Malakh hummed in agreement, leaning her chair back on two legs, "I third it. We don't know how things are going to shape up down there. We might need to break into this place, and I don't know enough about how the Kith broadcasting signals work to know if they would interfere with any security systems we might come across."
From the console she was displayed on, Viatrix's avatar fluctuated in thought. "Why not just have Pryseia and Elytra crash into the place and just grab the Storlayacas and go?"
"Same reason, we have no idea what security is like in that place, so for all we know, it could be rigged to blow if anything gets triggered. I honestly wouldn't put it past Zymeth arrogance!" Malakh said with a bitter laugh.
Reaching a hand over to tip Malakh's chair back onto all four legs, Rhea said, "We can worry about figuring out heist details once we're actually in scanning range. For now, we need to get our Kith personas ready!"
"I'm already done," was Viatrix's smug reply, her floral avatar replacing itself with the double headed axe she'd decided on the other day, her voice once again dropping an octave and coming out in a glitching rattle, "I eagerly look forward to eradicating the enemies of my queen."
"You going to go with a different name for your character?" Malakh asked.
The sinister laugh that sounded from the speakers was so deep and distorted that it had everything in the mess hall rattling. "You may simply refer to me as… the Program. Oh!" Viatrix reverted back to her normal voice, "Pryseia, if you would be so kind as to mimic the motion of pressing a button?"
The deupazing in question frowned in confusion, but she nevertheless pressed her pointer finger against the tabletop. The moment she did, Viatrix's avatar distorted, and a garbled cry of pain echoed out across the speakers, startling everyone in the room.
"I figured we could make some kind of little remote you could press to 'control' me when I get a little too out of hand," Viatrix explained, a devious joy in her voice, "Throw in a bit of fiction that the device is the only thing keeping me loyal to you!"
"Your scream was quite convincing." Nevara said, raising her fork in salute.
"Agreed," Pryseia said with a grin, "If we do end up developing plots we could enact, I'm sure that could be an interesting element we could play with."
"Or if we do something rivalry related with another crew," Elytra pointed out, which was met with nods.
Malakh turned to Pryseia, asking, "You still going to go with that Killzar the Pirate Queen title?"
"I would rather a moniker that provides a bit more anonymity," Pryseia replied with a shrug, "I was thinking of the name Queen Kaizoku."
Rhea frowned. "Kaizoku. I know that word."
"It is from one of the languages of your world, so I would hope so!" Pryseia told her, gently smacking her with her tail, "It means 'pirate' and has a similar 'k' sound to my own family name, so I thought it an apt allusion."
"Funny enough, I also went with a human word," Rhea shot back with a grin, "Chancellor Bathory! The name comes from a historic figure who, according to her detractors, did some really nasty shit to her subjects. Killing, torturing, the sort of thing that makes you real fun at parties."
Malakh laughed at that, knocking against the human's arm, "We were thinking along similar tracks in that regard! There's a folktale from my world about a person called the Left Hand who would do all kinds of heinous thing on behalf of their employer, so I was thinking of going with 'the Queen's Red Left Hand' as a title."
"That would work in your persona as the loud threat in the room," Nevara smirked, "For myself, I was thinking of something a little simpler: General Grim."
"To the point. I like that!" Malakh replied with a nod. She then raised her eyebrows in Elytra's direction, asking, "You figure out your name?"
"I have!" Elytra said, trying to tamp down her excitement as she turned in her chair so she was facing away from the others, after which she popped the collar of her jacket and stared moodily over her shoulder as she announced darkly, "Madame Augury."
"Yes!" Rhea cheered, waving a finger at her, "That's fun!"
"I think it would be more fun if you were all in costume," Viatrix flickered at them in amusement, "I'm the only one whose properly dressed!"
"We've still time before we arrive at our destination." Pryseia pointed out, prompting the rest of the organics to hurry through finishing their breakfasts.
The fabricator room ended up devolving into organized chaos as the crew of the Pelekys set about manufacturing their outfits. Thankfully, some of the Kith programs that were part of their onboarding process included design tools to aid in the creation of outfits that were as stylish as they were practical. With everything the Kith of the Void did in the course of their jobs - hunting Leviathan, pirating from other ships, engaging in mercenary work - they needed their outfits to be more than just costumes. They needed them to actually provide protection.
Nevara ended up being done first, the blueprints for the armour she'd been eyeing up already in the system, only requiring her to make adjustments in colour before she was ready to have them fabricated. After ducking into her bedroom to change into them, she strode back into the fabrication room, dark grey and teal armour covering her form, the sharp angles of it almost daring the others to get close enough to draw blood. She came to a halt with military precision once the door shut behind her, the teal lights in the collar of her armour underlighting her face and throwing her features into sharp relief. With the helmet to her armour tucked under one arm, she most definitely lived up to the title of General Grim.
"Oh hell yes!" Rhea said, coming over so she could get a better look at Nevara's ensemble, "It's going to be intimidating as fuck with you standing around in that!"
"Good." Was all Nevara replied with, as severe as her armour, though Elytra could feel the other woman's amusement like an autumn breeze.
"If I may, I have an addition I would like to make?" Pryseia asked, and Nevara nodded, curious as she joined Pryseia at the auto-tailor. It only took a few moments for the device to print out a sheet of heavy teal fabric with dark metal embellishments on it. Pryseia took the piece and threw it around Nevara's shoulders, attaching it to her armour and then standing back so everyone could get a look at it.
"The rest of us all seem to have some type of shoulder came. I thought it only fitting that you be adorned as such as well." Pryseia told her.
As Nevara walked over to the display that they'd been using as a mirror, Elytra couldn't help but say, "It does add to the striking flare of your ensemble."
Nevara gave a little turn, the lush fabric hanging over her left arm billowing dramatically with her movement. With a toss of her wrist, she tossed the front of the capelet so that it hang down her back, allowing her the unimpeded use of that arm.
"It most certainly does." Nevara agreed after regarding herself a few moments longer, and the others cheered.
Malakh was up next. Like Nevara, she'd gone with a modification to a preexisting design of space armour, though the deorviran design of it was nowhere near as angular as the apiarian style. If anything, hers looks anything but space worthy, a dark brown leather under layer on top of which armour in shades of red were attached, a deadly blade at the end of her now covered tail. Her arms were left bare, and when she strode back into the fabrication room, they saw she'd styled her hair back into a slick and controlled wave, a far cry from how she normally wore it.
"Look, this is a really cool function of this armour!" She said before anyone could say anything, and a moment later the armour plates on her shoulders twitches, and what looked to be black water gushed out over her arms. An instant later, the "water" solidified into wicked looking leather and armour gauntlets, claws extending from them in a similar way to Malakh's own. The gorget around her throat likewise twitched, and a moment later her head was enveloped in the black substance, which formed itself into a fearsome, leonine helmet.
Malakh struck a pose, the cape hanging down the back of her right shoulder fluttering behind her as her voice came out as a sinister growl over her suit's communication system as she asked, "What do you think?"
"I thi- hmm." Rhea cut herself off, her eyes darker than normal as she bit back a grin. "It's a good look."
The sleeves and helmet vanished just as quickly as they appeared, and Malakh gave Rhea a slow grin and a heated once over before she told the others, "Nanofluid with a couple preprogrammed options." She demonstrated by calling back the helmet, only now it looked more like a featureless head covering, while the sleeves returned, one more heavily armed, and the other resembling the "leather" of the rest of the undersuit, "A little versatility can go a long way with the situations we plan on getting in."
"I can look up some other designs you could program in," Viatrix offered, "I'm already finding schematic for some with built in tool sets."
"Oh you simply must share those with me!" Malakh said, scampering over to Viatrix's console.
Pryseia was the next to have her outfit ready. She returned wearing the armour befitting Deupazing royalty, a lustrous black with gold accents, while over her left arm was a deep blue cape glittering with golden constellations. On her head she wore a crown of black and gold, fitted in such a way that it looked like her horns were a part of it, her hair hanging loose and wavy, partially obscuring her face. Like Malakh, her tail was capped by a blade, which she scraped across the ground in an intimidating manner before she tossed the cape over her shoulder. The armour was attached to her prosthetic arm in a way to allow it its functionality, which Pryseia demonstrated by transforming the limb into a long blade, and then a hand cannon, the reticle of her artificial eye flaring as she tracked it across everyone in the room.
"Well, what have you to say to your queen?" She demanded, the makeup she applied making her appear sneeringly haughty.
"Eh." Rhea said with a noncommittal shrug, which caught Pryseia so off guard that she had to clamp a hand over her mouth at the volume of the laugh that escaped from her.
"I really like the look of it!" Elytra said once she got her own surprised laughter under control.
"To be fair I do too," Rhea cackled, "But I could not resist with that attitude!"
"Pryseia found it most amusing, make no mistake, but Queen Kaizoku would have your head for that." Pryseia said, unable to suppress her own smile.
"My Queen, shall your Red Left Hand remove this wretch from your sight?" Malakh said, trying to fall into character, though her own grin spoiled the display.
"If you two run off, we'll be stuck waiting to see Rhea's outfit for hours." Nevara teased.
"Well excuse us for making up for lost time!" Rhea said with mock offence, scooping up the last pieces of her outfit she'd been waiting on, "Can you blame a girl who's been pent up for decades?"
Malakh whacked Nevara with the flat of her tail blade as Rhea left, though it was apparent that she would much rather be following after her.
They didn't have to wait long for Rhea to change, as she was back in minutes, looking like an entirely different person. She wore a relatively simple spacesuit, a lightly armoured black affair, with a golden sash tied about her waist, into which was tucked a billowy shirt in a cream colour. The whole thing was topped with a high collared cape that came to about her knees, a rich brown that seemed to scintillate gold at certain angles. Like Pryseia, she was wearing her hair loose, but it somehow seemed more voluminous than normal. She'd also accented her features with makeup, her eyes and lips darkened, making her appear far more aloof than they all knew she was. Adorning her hands, ears, and neck was an absolute treasure trove of golden jewelry, the ones at her throat visible due to the fact that both her shirt and spacesuit were opened to the the sash around her middle, showing off the expanse of golden brown skin of her torso.
"I apologize if this is rude to ask, but I've been meaning to inquire as to what those are." Elytra said apologetically, gesturing at Rhea's chest.
"The… necklaces?" Rhea asked.
"No, the-" Elytra, unsure what to call them, cupped her hands in front of her own chest.
"Oh! They're breasts!" Rhea said helpfully, "Humans bear live young, and those capable of doing so also possess glands that produce a nutrient rich fluid they feed their newborns on. Mammary glands, hence the class of Mammalia. Deorvirans and Deupazing have similar biologies, but their own equivalent to mammaries only really show prominently when they're with child. Thanks to a quirk of evolution, human mammaries tend to remain large regardless of whether or not the human is in the breastfeeding stage."
"I appreciate you sharing that with me," Elytra told her, "And that outfit is fantastic."
Pryseia nodded, saying, "The very image of the scheming noble who whispers in my ear. Wouldn't you agree, Malakh?"
When there was no response from the deorviran, the other turned to her, only to find Malakh staring levelly at Rhea. Due to their height differences, this meant she was staring directly into the opening of her shirt, and everything that lay hidden just beyond.
The smile that curled Rhea's lips was a deadly thing, and she shifted her weight onto one foot, hands on her hips as her voice pitched lower than normal as she said, "Does the Red Left Hand like what she sees?"
"Hmm?" Was Malakh's distracted reply, and after a moment her eyes bulged as she darted them up to look into Rhea's own as she repeated, "Hmm?!"
"I'm going to assume she approves." Nevara said as she nudged Malakh, who had shut her eyes and turned partially away in chagrin.
Chuckling, Pryseia turned to Elytra and said, "Best to change sooner than later. I don't know how much longer they're going to be with us."
"Hey, I know how to show restraint!" Elytra heard Malakh sputtering as she left with her armful of gear.
Thankfully, despite how elaborate it looked, her own outfit wasn't that difficult to put on. A standard koleopteran spacesuit she'd modified to be in shades of purple, the helmet of which had a clear face plate that would slide forward when needed. The item that had taken the longest to fabricate had been the sleeveless, hooded jacket, which was covered in as much esoteric symbology that she could cram onto the thing. She walked back into the fabrication room with her coat billowing dramatically around her, and was met with noises of approval from the others.
"This has one more feature to it!" She exclaimed, and tapped a button on the inside of her wrist. The face plate of the helmet slid forward, and from her perspective, a HUD popped into view. But she knew that the others were seeing something very different: the illusion that there was nothing within the helmet but a foggy expanse, two glowing purple eyes that would seem to come back from farther in the helmet than should be physically possible.
"Madame Augury sees all." She hissed out in a dramatic whisper, the speakers on her suit altering her voice to make is sound like it was coming from a great distance away.
"Let's go!" Rhea shouted, "That is sick as hell!"
"Yes! And that reminds me!" Malakh exclaimed, "I think I managed to get that psychic dampener turned into a psychic booster! We can give it a test whenever you want!"
Pryseia stepped up next to Elytra, clapping a hand on her shoulder as she said, "Testing can come later. For now, I believe it would be prudent to begin creating our promotional material. We want to be ready for our showing on Ritroser, after all.