043: Outrageous Fortune – Three
Despite their club-going antics of the night before, and the amount of alcohol consumed, the morning routine on the Pelekys played out pretty much the same as it always did: Breakfast cooked by whoever was up first (Elytra and Nevara today), followed by exercise and sparring (Rhea showing them just what, exactly, her human strength could do to a set of proper weights), before they broke for lunch and spent the afternoon pursuing their own side projects.
For Pryseia, this involved a deep dive into the Avvisi system, seeing if there were any nearby bounties that would either serve their narrative goals, or were something they could clear out quick enough to not get in the way of their pursuit of the next Storlayacas unit.
Rhea and Elytra had sequestered themselves away in the rec room in order to hammer out more details about the lore they were setting up for their Kith personas, as well as brainstorm scripts they could film while waiting for their next mission.
Nevara had joined them in the rec room, though she was in a world of her own as she lost herself in the music she was putting together, nodding along as she worked her array of data pad instruments.
And in the armoury, Malakh was putting Viatrix through her paces with the remote drones she'd picked up from Amanhecer Station.
It was taking a bit of adjustment.
"Hey hey, careful now!" Malakh laughed as she grabbed the drone Viatrix was controlling out of the air before it crashed into the nearest wall, "These aren't the size of the Pelekys, you've gotta be a little lighter on the controls there!"
"Right, sorry, I just got excited!" Viatrix said from the drone's onboard speaker, her floral avatar flickering sheepishly on the drone's display, "I should have a handle on it now."
Malakh let the drone go, and it hovered gently up so that it was floating level with her head. Malakh grinned at that. "That's way better. I set up a little obstacle course for you, help you get a feel for how these things handle. Don't worry about speed or anything, just get through without knocking anything over."
Viatrix turned the drone to face the direction Malakh had nodded in, and saw that an assortment of wall panels and random pieces of furniture had been stacked semi-haphazardly across the room, giving her plenty of twists, turns, and tunnels to work with. Giving out a little giggle, Viatrix replied, "Watch this!"
With the confidence of a veteran pilot, Viatrix rocketed her drone through the course, ducking and weaving, avoiding the tricks and traps Malakh had set up, and flying out the other end of it in order to pull of some stunt maneuvers as she flew the thing back to there Malakh was standing.
"Alright, showoff, that was very impressive," Malakh grinned as the drone settled smugly before her, "You ready for the dexterity test?"
Viatrix spun the drone so it could stare pointedly at the obstacle course she'd just blasted through with no problem, turning back to Malakh to say, "Pretty sure I just did that."
"That was mobility, not dexterity. Didn't you notice? These babies have arms!" Malakh explained as she opened and closed her hands like pincers.
A series of clicks sounded from the drone, followed by two small manipulator arms unfolding from underneath the machine. Viatrix raised them so she could see them from the drone's camera, clacking them together as she mimicked Malakh. "Oh this opens up a world of possibilities!"
"Just keep in mind that you're going to have gravity working against you in here," Malakh said as she tapped her foot against the floor, the artificial gravity systems in the ship preventing things from free floating while it was charged, "So that drone's not going to be able to lift more than its thrusters can get off the ground. We can take it out for you to play around in zero G with later, but for now, let's start you off with putting these tools away."
Viatrix flew the drone over to where Malakh had pointed, an empty toolbox with a few tools scattered on the floor around it. "Sure you're not just trying to make me clean up after you?" She joked.
"Please, if I was, I'd get you to put the obstacle course away." Malakh replied with a grin, "But these are small enough that the drone won't struggle with them, sturdy enough that they won't break if you get a little rough, and they fit in specific spots in the toolbox, so it'll give you a feel for precision controls."
"Well if that's the case…" Viatrix said confidently, dropping the drone down low enough to pick up a hammer. She managed it alright, sliding the tool into its designated slot, but Malakh came and crouched down next to the drone, humming thoughtfully as she watched Viatrix put away the next tool.
"Hm, I think this thing isn't as dexterous as you're capable of." She said after a moment.
If she could have, Viatrix would have frowned as she asked, "What do you mean?"
"The drone's arms are just simple graspers, a ring that can open and close," Malakh explained, tapping the limbs in question, "But the way you're going to pick things up with them, you're going at it like you've got multiple fingers and a thumb."
Viatrix reached out to grab another tool, this time just using the drone's arm like the simple claw it was. "Huh. You're right. I didn't notice that before. I'm… not sure why I did it that way before."
"Could be because the only other machines you've linked up with have been the Storlayacas, and they've got proper hands instead of claws?" Malakh theorized, waving the fingers of her own hand.
"I only linked up with them, I didn't control them!" Viatrix shot back.
"You tried to though, didn't you?" Malakh returned with a smirk.
"I mean…"
That got a laugh out of Malakh. "As if I would fault you for it! The amount of time I spent in Zaanlaa back on Trahho Station, trying to get that thing to move… You've been in three Storlayacas now, learned the shape of their systems. A little bleed is to be expected."
"Be that as it may, the fact that this quirk developed without my awareness of it is… disquieting." Viatrix admitted quietly, "What else has sneaked its way into my subroutines?"
"Hey, I don't think it's as dire as that." Malakh told her, "It could just be the digital version of picking up a habit from spending enough time around another person. I can tell you this, I never used to swear so fucking much until I started hanging around Rhea!"
That got a laugh out of Viatrix.
Malakh stood up, dusting off her overalls as she said, "Come on, let's get this drone over to the fabricators so I can whip up some proper hands for it. May as well upgrade it to better suit your skills and all."
Pryseia's Avvisi search had proven fruitful, as she'd found several standing bounties for Leviathan that had been spotted in the area. As such, after dinner she'd requested a mech training session with Elytra and Malakh in order to familiarize themselves with the Storlayacas in their possession.
Nevara flew the ship out past where any traffic from Amanhecer Station would enter any potential line of fire, and the three ancient mechs were dematted into space.
"This is quite different from the training simulators," Elytra said as she got a feel for maneuvering her mech around in the absence of gravity, "It's easier to notice that now that I don't have a Leviathan projecting its malice at me!"
Malakh's voice came over the comms then. "Speaking of, I've rigged all our cockpits up with psychic dampeners like they had back on the Quanvengier, set to filter all the psychic frequencies I could get my hands on. Hopefully that'll be enough to cut the worst of what those monsters can hit us with. Mentally, at least."
"I appreciate your preventative measures," Pryseia replied, "Especially if we are to be facing the beasts again in short order. To that end, the purpose of our sojourn this evening."
The next few hours were filled with combat drills, Pryseia acting as a target while she had the other two attack her.
Or rather, attempt to attack her.
They'd turned the power settings on their weapons down to basically nothing, so even if they did score a hit on her, it wouldn't have left more than some light carbon scoring. But the fact of the matter was that Pryseia could not be hit, even with the two of them gunning for her.
Every shot they got off was dodged or redirected, every slice or jab was parried or evaded altogether, even isolating their comms to strategist against her gave Malakh and Elytra no advantage, and if it weren't for the fact that she knew deupazing possessed no psychic abilities, Elytra would have assumed that Pryseia was reading their minds, psychic dampeners be damned.
"I can assure you, it is only due to the fact that I have been piloting a mech in some capacity since my youth that has afforded me the skills you see on display," Pryseia had said sympathetically after their latest round of failed attack attempts, "Not to mention the long years spent under the relentless tutelage of the Thalatte. Perfection was not just expected, it was demanded. Had you the years of training I have, the disparity between our skills would not be so great."
Malakh let out a single laugh at that. "Well, so long as we don't get ourselves killed, we'll have a chance to hit those years thanks to zoastasis."
"And we won't get killed if we put in more practice," Elytra said, "So let's try that again. Pryseia, can you show us that maneuver you used once more?"
They ran through drills for about an hour more before Pryseia called it for the night.
"More practice can come on the morrow," she'd laughed when both Elytra and Malakh had insisted they were good to keep going, "Rest is just as important to the training process as experience is!"
Elytra was about to make an argument against that when her audio emulators - devices built into most spacecraft to provide artificial sounds to one's surroundings, as most species who relied on hearing found it particularly jarring to operate in the noiselessness of the void - picked up the unmistakable sound of a ship falling out of subspace.
Before any of them could even turn in the direction their emulators had indicated for them, Lauter's voice came over the comms, "Didn't I warn you what would happen if we should cross paths in space not controlled by the Kith?"
Weapon's fire from the Briddbragnan rained down on them an instant later, forcing the three of them to scatter. A dozen mechs dematted from Lauter's ship, swiftly splitting up to follow them in pursuit.
As calm and collected as ever, Nevara's voice came over the comms, "I can deal with the Briddbragnan."
"Damage, don't destroy," Pryseia replied just as calmly, "They do work for the same organization as us, after all. It would be poor form to kill our coworkers this early in our career, after all."
"Party pooper." Rhea joked as the Pelekys swung in to draw the Briddbragnan's fire, their own weapons raking across the enemy ship's gun batteries.
"I hold the three of us to the same standard," Pryseia said to Elytra and Malakh as she nimbly dodged the mechs swarming her own, "Destroying the sensor arrays that make up the heads of these mechs will render them inoperable without killing their pilots."
"Then I guess it's a good thing we've been getting our practice in!" Malakh laughed, the beam of her energy sabre flaring white hot as she dialed the power on it back up to full before charging the mechs harassing her.
Her first bout of proper mech-to-mech combat outside of an arena, Elytra couldn't help but compare the foes she now fought to those she'd been forced to fight by the Baithaizans. Unlike the random citizens who had been kidnapped from their homes and forced to fight against their wills, these Kith pilots were leagues better. If she'd been in a T0-K4Y, she'd be hard pressed to fend off the four mechs of unknown make that were hounding her.
But she was in a Storlayacas - her Storlayacas - and these modern mechs had no chance of comparing to that.
The first fell to her sabre the instant she'd cranked the power back up while pressing it to the sensor array of the nearest mech, a second following soon after as she swung out to decapitate the mech to her right. The other two pulled back, swapping their melee weapons for guns and opening fire, but having just spent the last several hours trying to dodge the incoming fire Pryseia could lay down, the efforts of these lesser pilots was frankly pitiful. She skirted around them in a wide arc, aborting it early the second she saw them leading their weapons to get their fire ahead of her, charging straight at them with her sabre braced. She cleaved through both their sensor arrays with a single stroke, scanning the battlefield for any other threats.
To her left, Castore was tearing the head off the last mech harassing her with her bare hands, while to her right Zaanlaa was turned towards where the Briddbragnan and Pelekys were trading shots, her own foes floating aimlessly behind her.
An explosion came from the Briddbragnan's rear a moment later, the ship listing as one of its engines was taken out of commission.
"That should keep them from following after us. Shall we depart?" Nevara called out to the rest of them.
"I believe that wise. There's nothing more that they can offer us." Pryseia replied, flying close enough to the Pelekys to get into dematting range, with Malakh and Elytra hot on her tail.
"Subspace jump engine is ready to go on your command." Viatrix announced the second the three of them made it back into the cargo hold.
"I leave it to your discretion." Pryseia told her as she and the others brought their mechs to their berths.
Viatrix cackled at that, saying, "Oh, then I'm gonna be a bitch about it!"
Before anyone could ask for any clarification in regards to that, Lauter's aggravating voice rang out over the ship's comms. "Cheap tricks will get you nowhere in the end. Hyttan tech is the only reason you've had success so far. When I-"
Whatever it was Lauter would do was lost on them as the Pelekys fell into subspace, cutting itself off from contact with the outside world.
"Okay, I'm a big fan of you being a bitch!" Malakh smirked as the cockpit to Castore opened up.
Over the comms, Viatrix laughed again, saying, "You aren't the only one picking up bad habits from Rhea!"
"What the fuck?!" Came the woman in question's indignant exclamation a moment later.
Going over the damage from their unexpected encounter with the Briddbragnan's forces didn't take too long, thankfully. A quick scan from Rhea (jokingly muttering expletives the entire time) showed that they hadn't received any physical damage beyond what a particularly vigorous exercise session would result in, while a diagnostic between Malakh and Viatrix revealed that the damage the ship and the Storlayacas received were cosmetic at best.
"If this is the kind of firepower that the Briddbragnan brings to bear on their missions, then it's no wonder they stick to preying on cargo vessels." Rhea had scoffed, derisively tossing the data pad where the autopsy on their fight with the Briddbragnan lay onto the couch beside her.
"And what was with that crack about us only having success because of our mechs?" Malakh hissed from where she was pacing, "Hello? Aside from escaping in it, how did mechs help at all with our fucking heist!?"
"I truly cannot understand why Lauter has decided to make a target of us," Elytra frowned from where she was slumped in the corner of the couch beside Rhea, "And not even in a proper rival way! There are protocols in place for that, and they've made no formal overtures!"
From her usual console display, Viatrix flashed in agitation. "I think this is just asshole behaviour, not Kith behaviour."
"Agreed." Nevara said where she was stood arms crossed, leaning against the couch where Pryseia sat, "My hope is that by showing the disparity in our skills, they'll give us a wide berth. But…"
"If anything, it's more likely to fuel the pyre of their anger." Pryseia finished.
Elytra gave a humourless laugh as she sat up, saying, "I'd been regretting not getting any footage of us in combat for our socials, but I don't want to give the Briddbragnan any kind of free publicity of this is the kind of behaviour they're going to be indulging in."
Pryseia grinned at that, saying, "A sentiment I share. For the purposes of Queen Kaizoku and her allies, the Briddbragnan and their ilk shall not exist."
"If they wanna ride our coattails, they can ask in writing like a proper Kith crew, not this outlaw bullshit they've been pulling on us." Rhea muttered darkly, "And then we can tell them to get fucked, because there's no way I'm gonna work with some moron who talks big and delivers little!"
"Here fucking here," Malakh agreed, still pacing, "This kind of childish nonsense is something I thought I wouldn't have to deal with as an adult."
"Hopefully we won't have to deal with it further," Pryseia said as she stood, "We've proven what kind of a threat we are in the face of their best, so if they've half the intelligence it takes to keep oneself alive this long, they'll do as Nevara predicts and leave us well alone."
"And if they don't?" Elytra had to ask.
It was with Queen Kaizoku's regal iciness that Pryseia replied, "Then we won't be so lenient the next time our paths cross."