(FTL RP) FTL: Lakibar Station

[Jumbocarrot0]

Garnarg followed Slocknaw to the deck to find the Lanius. Upon Gyldi's continuation of conversation, and some of Garnarg's mind readng, it was clear the Lanius, whose name was apparently Jyalen, had a history and apparently he was willing to work under Gyldi's command. "Lovely to have you as an acquaintance." he said still keeping his distance. A hit of flak debris reminded the crew they were still being bombarded by the Lanius ship. "What weapons do we have on this station exactly? Apart from the tractor beam which isn't really a weapon."

[4n4rch1st]

By the time that Jack had noticed the metallic liquid dripping from the ceiling, it was too late. Within seconds, the Lanius had wrapped themselves around Jack's head and was beginning to suffocate him, before surprising him by talking nearly perfect Solocian.

(The language humans speak. The beginning is Sol as in Sun. There isn't one universal language, just one main racial language that gets translated)

"Oh, thank the heavens that I've finally found a fellow human!"

Jack, flabbergasted by this response, replied with great confusion. "Firstly, get off my head. And secondly, WHAT!?"

The Lanius, now also surprised, but not as much as Jack, crawled off his head and simply said, "Huh? We don't greet by close bodily contact? And for the second one, what do you mean by 'what'?"

"To the first question... Well... Humans do greet with bodily contact, but NOT TO THE FACE. And the second one, by 'WHAT!?' I mean EVERYTHING. You aren-"

The sound of shots pinging off the hull cut short the conversation. Jack ran to the other crewmembers while the Lanius followed uncertainly. Jack saw the Lanius with the other crewmembers, and thought that perhaps the same thing had happened to them.

"Did you also stumble across a Lanius who thinks that they're a human too?"

[Jumbocarrot0]

“A Lanius thinking he’s human?” Garnarg scrolled through his mind. “Woah, he actually does think he’s human. Grew up in a human colony who devoted themselves to rescuing aliens. Reminds me of Liam the Mantis, a mantis who grew up in a human colony and believed he was one himself.” He scrolled through his mind more. “Actually, he met Liam, and a couple of rockmen who never understood that hugging was for the body, not the head.”

[4n4rch1st]

The Lanius was oddly fuming after Garnag had spoke.

"Don't read my mind! I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself, thank you. And HE? That is no way to treat a woman!"

Jack interrupted her before she could say more.

"Heh. Reminds me of my br- I mean a mantis named Smith. And Lakibar Station is virtually weaponless. Unless you count lobbing shuttles at the enemy a weapon, but I've already used our remaining runabout for that."

[Jumbocarrot0]

"Don't read my mind! I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself, thank you. And HE? That is no way to treat a woman!"

“Sorry, Ma am, but its the best way to figure out who you are. Also no offence but all Lanius look alike.” He looked at Jack. ‘Great, now I feel like a hypocrite.’

"Heh. Reminds me of my br- I mean a mantis named Smith. And Lakibar Station is virtually weaponless. Unless you count lobbing shuttles at the enemy a weapon, but I've already used our remaining runabout for that."

‘He was going to say brother.’ Garnarg slapped himself after he subconsciously read Jack's mind, “Don’t do that!” he yelled so loudly Marcella heard a slight thump. He could see everyone around him staring at him weirded out at the reaction. “Heh, heh, heh... Anyways. Earlier I tried to get the Lanius to help by offering scrap. I was planning on using the Nisos wreck as a reward to rescue Slock but they decided it was easier to just kill us and get it. Perhaps if we can lure the Lanius to the wreck of Nisos they'll leave us alone.”

[AI41]

Gyldi and Jyalen both exclaimed in unison; “We are not going to partake in the destruction of Nisos!” Gyldi continued “Jyalen and I both have a history with one of Nisos’ sister ships, one which, like pretty much everything I own, was heavily modified. I’ve mentioned the Innocence a few times. I was it’s captain. I left it in the hands of our Engi friend, Emily. According to what Jyalen told me, it was under her command that Innocence was destroyed. Not her fault though.”

[Jumbocarrot0]

We are not going to partake in the destruction of Nisos!

Garnarg sighed. “Look, I get that you have a particular, interest, in saving Nisos. However we have no other bargaining chip, as you may say. I personally do not like the idea of this station being torn to pieces for these Lanius' brunch. So unless you have any other ideas, Nisos is our only safe option.”

[stylesrj]

Smith? I know of a Mantis named Smith. His brother Charlie served on the Nesasio with me, Slocknaw thought to himself, I guess there are many Mantises out there who call themselves Robert Smith
"The Lanius from what I've seen tend to latch onto the largest source of metal; and right now Lakibar Station is a larger source" Slocknaw said "I don't think they'd settle for table scraps when the banquet is right here."
He gave the equivalent of a smile "However, I have contacted the Lakibar government. As we speak, they are preparing the ASB batteries to deal with the Lanius threat and recommend that Jack give them the ultimatum before they're torn apart."

Up to... anyone really if Slocknaw is bluffing on that front or if Lakibar really does have some old defense batteries.

[AI41]

Gyldi and Jyalen both resigned to the possibility that Nisos would be turned over to the Lanius. "If really necessary, we will give up Nisos. Otherwise, we would love to have it, both as resources for Lakibar and as defence, and mining." Gyldi said.

[Jumbocarrot0]

“ASB? That's good. Hopefully it's accurate enough to not hit us. No need for bribes.”

Meanwhile, in the medbay

Marcella walked in the medbay to check on her slug crew mate. “Gogiris?” she called out, “Are you...” Her sentence was interupted by the sight of an empty medbay, apart from Violet's covered body, with slug slime covering the floor. ‘Oh no. Its not safe for Gogiris to be out in his mental state.’