164: Jamming Down The Pedal – Three
"No, I heartily agree. We should make the acquisition of a conversion module our highest priority." Pryseia said as she finished with her warm up for the morning, making her way towards their exercise equipment.
Malakh shot Rhea, who was currently spotting for V'tala as she bench pressed, a smug look.
Working with some lighter dumbbells herself, Elytra added, "I worry about the Gorgon too, the kinds of missions they go on? Having the QECD to touch base with them whenever we want is great and all, but knowing that they'd have a little more protection would be fantastic."
Breathing out a quiet laugh as she finished her own warm up, Nevara said, "And aesthetically speaking, the marble look that the Gorgon favours already looks half Hyttan, so the conversion module wouldn't need to work hard to convert their appearance overmuch. For all we know, our own very different aesthetic choices were the reason our conversion took as long as it did."
Lifting her bar high enough so Rhea could help settle it back into its resting place, V'tala pointed out, "And knowing that an upgrade was going to be happening, they could park the ship somewhere less dangerous than a Leviathan infested patch of space and hope they could survive long enough for the upgrade to be completed."
On the nearest console, Viatrix's avatar gave a lazy spin as she said, "I'd honestly been thinking about taking a poke through my own code to see if any of the upgrades I've gotten could be applied to Adyt, but maybe this conversion would be able to do that instead?"
Across the room from them all, the presence of the Storlayacas bloomed bright, their own agreement on this course of action shining down on them like sunlight.
The laugh that broke out of Rhea was edged with tears, her smile full of wonder as she got out, "I don't know what to say."
"Say I can move on to heavier weights," V'tala muttered, shooting her a smirk, and that got a proper laugh out of Rhea, "We have the means to look after our own, so why wouldn't we take advantage of that?"
"Exactly," Malakh said, "Aside from sentimental reasons, it's tactically advantageous for us in the long run! Once Nevara makes a mockery of the competition, we can set out on our search."
Lifting a hand to forestall any protests from Rhea, Pryseia cut in, "We can narratively explain it away as a search for more Hyttan equipment with which to better our survival odds against the Omega. This may end up being less of a cover than we intend, as we can be on the hunt for other items of note. Also, it has been some time since we have given the audience any proper Midas Touch content, so we would do well to provide during this time."
Scrubbing her hands down her face, her smile blinding behind them, Rhea choked out, "You're agreeing to waste who knows how much time to find a microscopic needle in a lightyear-spanning haystack for the sake of people other than us, AND telling me to make out with my wife for fun and for profit? To say I'm in your debt would be an understatement."
"You can pay it back by making that round flatbread thing again," Elytra said, frowning slightly as she tried to remember the name of the dish, "What was it called, pan-something? Plaza? No, that's not it. It started with a 'P' though, I'm sure of it."
"Pizza," Rhea supplied, huffing out a laugh as she scrubbed at her eyes, "And I can absolutely make that for you. For lunch even."
"I would certainly be amenable to that," Pryseia told her, "We will be linking up with the Gorgon soon enough, so we will be able to go over more details with the race then. I believe we should hold off on telling them about our intent in acquiring the conversion module for their ship, as we've no way to give them a definitive timetable on that endeavour."
"I can agree with that," Rhea said, finally wrangling herself back under control, "But the race, that's what we should be focusing on now. The stipulations in the documentation Zovo sent out are wild!"
"Ghe's an eccentric rich fuck, what else can you expect?" Malakh scoffed from where she was going through a set of leg lifts, "Wanting each team of racers to have some unifying theme going on? It's a good thing we've got all our Kith resources that dovetail with that kind of nonsense, makes it easier for us to get all that organized."
"Speaking of, that racing suit turned out really cool looking!" Viatrix chirped, "Love that we're sticking with the Hyttan theme for it all! Hyttan flyer, Hyttan inspired armour, though it's weird seeing you in that instead of your regular General Grim outfit."
"I am quite fond of my Grim attire myself, but it hardly fit with the aesthetic of the Hyttan flyer. That, unfortunately, we haven't the means to alter the look of, and so my own appearance must be the one to change." Nevara said with a shrug.
"I wonder if a paint job done by my drone would make it stick?" Viatrix wondered, "But relatively small as the flyer is, my drone's a whole lot smaller. If we make a big enough paint brush, would one of you painting it make it register?"
This she directed at the Storlayacas, and their own curiosity on that hypothetical burbled like a brook. The image of the harsh glare of the Hyttan's twin suns filled the mind of the others, the way it bled colour from the world around it. This was followed by an image of what could only be early Hyttan explorers, stepping onto a world bathed in the gentler light of an alien sun, the colours surrounding them almost overwhelming in their potency. A novelty, harsh and strange to the eyesight of the Hyttan, it wasn't something that could exist on their world, and so it remained a quirk of their colonies. But even then, they hadn't done much in the way of experimentation.
Another image came to mind for them all, this time of a paint being applied to some sort of structure. It was the same colour as the material it was covering, but through the strange way the Storlayacas had of conveying things, they all knew that this paint had some kind of protective properties about it. A sealant, a coating, its purpose wasn't for the sake of design, but the more practical application of another layer of protection. Pigment was something the Hyttan had little knowledge of, so the Storlayacas didn't know if, even applied by their own hand, colour would stick to Hyttan material or not.
Humming as she returned her dumbbells to their rack, Elytra pointed out, "Well, we do know for a fact that colour can be applied to Hyttan material and have it stick - the Pelekys stayed black instead of being turned Hyttan white, and all of you took on colour when you awoke. And that's something I've been meaning to ask you about - why did you all turn so colourful?"
Fond bemusement as warm as sunlight beamed off the Storlayacas at that question. In the minds of the organics, the image of a mirror was held up to each of them, but it wasn't themselves they saw in their own reflections, but the Storlayacas themselves. A blatant enough message, that each of them were reflections of each other.
"I'm sorry you didn't get much of a colour change, in that case." V'tala told Enaruli, but almost before she could finish that sentence, Enaruli's presence loomed forward, stern and protective. It filled their minds with V'tala as green as she was the day she was born, with equally green usgaisjans binding her with sickly silver chains. Green hands pulled her down to the shore, green hands dragged her into the sea, green hands pushed her under and demanded she be grateful that they were drowning her. But other hands emerged - blue, brown, teal, lavender, crimson, iridescent - and they hauled her out of the water, tore the chains from her, and as the chains went so too did the colour from V'tala's body, leaving her starkly different from those who had kept her in subjugation. Any tie to them was a tie worth losing.
"We're of one mind on that front." V'tala scoffed, nodding up at Enaruli, who responded with a surge of furious pride. If its pilot would shun her own people, then Enaruli would treat them to a cold shoulder too.
The Gorgon fell out of subspace minutes after the Pelekys did, the two ships linking up in the energetically noisy magnetosphere of an ice giant. While not enough to fully cloak their ships from any higher power scanners specifically seeking them out, the uncharacteristic energy waves coming off that particular world would be enough to scramble their presence to anyone in the area doing a casual sweep.
This far off the beaten path, they weren't expecting company. But even still, Viatrix and Adyt had their own scanners up, on the alert for anything untoward.
"Alright, let's see our little prize winner!" Leto called as one of the cargo doors in the Pelekys' armoury swung open to reveal the crew of the Gorgon, "With how fast that thing was flying in your video, we couldn't get a good look at it."
Like the crew of the Pelekys, the crew of the Gorgon were all dressed in their Kith armour, having just filmed footage for the eventual videos they were going to be putting together after all of this. For the moment, however, the crew of the Gorgon had removed their helmets in the company of friends, Elytra doing the same.
"It's smaller than you would expect," Nevara said as the two crews fell in with one another, making their way towards the nearby demat zone, "And much faster than one would presume from said size. With luck, it will lead to the competition writing us off before the starting signal sounds."
Stepping into the cargo hold had the Storlayacas lighting up at the sight of the Gorgon's crew, a wave of welcome washing over them all.
"And a hello to you too," Ravona said, lifting a hand in greeting, an awed smile curling up behind her mandibles, "Simply remarkable. It's always astounding to see the six of you."
They could all feel the Storlayacas preening under that praise.
Parked in the berth next to their Thalatte shuttle, the Hyttan flyer looked barely big enough to fit the two people it had seats enough for. Letting out a low trill, Sara said, "I say, you really weren't kidding when you said this craft was a pipsqueak, eh what? Why, I imagine its small enough that you four strapping lasses could lift it with your bare hands!"
This they'd directed at the Marinos sisters, who all immediately perked up, their expressions lighting up at the thought of this challenge. Before anyone else could do anything, the four split up and surrounded the flyer, and with a call of, "One, two, three," from Phoebe, they hoisted the flyer completely off the ground.
"It's actually heavier than I expected," Selene said, a slight strain noticeable in her voice, "Which makes sense, given that there's an engine in here, and the Hyttan's perpetual fuel source, not to mention the material all their stuff is made out of is denser than you'd think."
To a round of applause from the others (and a flirtatious hoot from Malakh), the sisters gently set the craft back on the ground, the four of them pulling off identical sweeping bows that spoke to a childhood of getting up to similar showy antics. Across the cargo hold from them, the Storlayacas bubbled over with amusement themselves, though they did send along the image of one of them simply scooping up the flyer in a single hand, holding it up like it was little more than a toy.
"Well not all of us can be as tall as you lot!" Leto shot back with a wink, before she rounded on Sara, throwing an arm over their shoulder before saying, "Which means, given how little space there is in there, your fun sized self is going to be Nevara's second!"
Rolling their eyes, unable to quell the amusement in their own voice, Sara replied, "I'm a perfectly normal height for a thalatte, thank you very much. I can't help it that the rest of our crew is all towering giants! And its not my size, but my pinpoint targeting and navigational prowess that was the agreed upon criteria when deciding which of us would be accompanying Nevara in her race."
Zovo Heila was particular about who ghe let in to ger races. No invitation, no entry. Phoebe had managed to wrangle an invite for her crew, and that invite was non-transferable. If they were going to enter the race with Nevara at the helm of her Hyttan flyer, then they were going to all have to go in on the Gorgon.
The two crews were quick to get things set up for filming, getting through their scripted scenes in short order, eager to move on to the next stage of their operation.
After throwing their overnight bags into the flyer with Nevara, the others walked through the armoury access to pass through the docking hatch linking their two ships, Viatrix's Hyttan drone following along after them. Once that hatch was separated, Viatrix dematted the flyer out so that Adyt could demat it into the Gorgon's own cargo hold, and they could then make ready for their journey to Zovo's territory proper.
"Alright, putting the ship into full stealth mode now," Viatrix announced from her drone, and on the main screen in the Gorgon's bridge, they watched as the Pelekys faded from view.
"Confirming zero readings on her," Sara said from their station, "The Pelekys is tucked safely away."
Adyt's blue flame hologram flickered over to Viatrix's drone as she asked, "You sure the link range you have is going to allow you to accompany us all the way to the racetrack?"
"Oh yeah!" Viatrix assured her smugly, "We tested my range before, and it's real far! The distance between where I'm going to park the Pelekys and Zovo's place is well within my limits!"
Yarvela shook her head in wonder at that. "Impressive what those upgrades have done for you. There's something so melancholy about it, though. We'll never know how the Hyttan were able to pull off such engineering feats, their knowledge not only lost but purposefully hidden."
"It truly is incredible, all that you've been able to learn about them in such a short amount of time," Ravona added, before she let out a sharp laugh, "Research institutes specializing in uncovering Hyttan secrets have had less luck in infinitely longer spans of time! Tell me, do you intend to share what you've learned with these sorts?"
"Eventually." Pryseia told her, "Once the threat of the Omega is dealt with, we've agreed to pass on what we've learned. We guard that knowledge so closely now only to prevent others with ill intent from becoming involved in our affairs, especially if there's more of these death cultist types who would use that information to aid in the early release of the Omega. Doubtlessly, beyond the select handful we've already shared the secret with, were it to become more widely known that the Storlayacas were sentient in their own right, to say nothing of the power they possess, they would become a prime target for theft. There is also the matter of the Pelekys itself - bad enough that the Thalatte wish to see its return, but were it to be revealed that it has been converted into Hyttan tech itself? I doubt all pirates out there would be as benign to us as those guarding the tear where the Omega will emerge from."
Phoebe's answering laugh was knowing as she said, "I agree with your paranoia on that front. There's a lot out there that would like to see any of us Kith dead, so anything to make that harder for our enemies is alright in my books. Scientific discovery can wait until you're safe. For now, however, we should meet up with Nevara and show you to your rooms."
The floor plan of the Gorgon wasn't too hellishly dissimilar to the Pelekys, consisting of a main corridor with rooms branching off of it. Their own armoury was towards the back of the ship, and was where their anchoring points to their cargo hold were located, Nevara stepping out of the demat zone just as they entered the room, everyone's bags dangling off her arms.
"Perfect timing!" Selene said, stepping up to take the bags for Nevara, "We've got a little something for all of you in here anyway."
Adyt's avatar darted over to a row of lockers. "We figured if we're going to pretend we're all on the same crew, we might as well dress you the part. Viatrix sent me your measurements."
Several of the lockers popped open at her command, revealing Kith armour in the Gorgon's particular style - an undersuit in each person's signature colour, overtop of which was marble white armour veined in that colour to tie it together, with a helmet fashioned to resemble something from ancient Terran mythology.
"We figured you may as well have names to go along with it too, to keep with the theme." Leto said, before moving down the line to give everyone their new armour.
For Pryseia there was Delphyne, a midnight blue accent with a helmet that looked like the face of a woman and a dragon both. V'tala had Sybrais, the white of it contrasted with darkest black, the helmet similar to Pryseia's draconic woman, though while Pryseia's had two jutting horns in the front of it, V'tala's had a crown-like row along the back. Rhea was given Charybdis, a rich golden brown with a snarling woman's face for a helmet so similar to that borne by her sisters, only instead of serpents it was wreathed by what looked to be crashing waves. Malakh, of course, got Scylla, the colour on it somewhere between orange and red, the helmet resembling a woman's face, stern instead of smiling, surrounded by tentacles. Elytra was gifted with Talos, a bright lavender in colour, with a helmet that was faceless except for eye holes, and bore a pink and purple brush-like crest that ran down the top of it. Nevara received Echidna, the teal colour of it pairing well with the snakelike visage of the helmet.
"And you're gonna be Gello," Adyt finished up, flickering her blue flame over to Viatrix's drone, "Did the avatar myself, let me transfer it over to you."
"Nice! Let me change!" Viatrix chirped, and a few seconds later the floral avatar on the drone's screen changed to be something that resembled a glowing ember. Too excited to drop into the Program's voice, Viatrix all but shouted, "You're the smoke and I'm the fire! Oh I really really like that!"
"This is truly unexpected," Pryseia beamed, running a hand across the breastplate of Delphyne's armour, "I find myself at a loss for words."
Phoebe shrugged, telling her, "You're family. We look after our own."