One final chance: An FTL-RP

[stylesrj]

Tabitha was recovering in the medbay as everyone was getting things back into order. However the AI threat was still out there. "What's going on?" she said, looking at her damaged hand. The healing nanites were at work repairing the skin with loud and visible sparks. She paid little attention to the operation though - medbays did all sorts of visual effects when doing healing after all and it could have just as easily have been nanites sparking on each other.

"I think we should get out of here" she said into the comms.

[Chickengames]

Kr took a minute to catch his breath and started to pick up the parts of Steve. Maybe Targon would appreciate these parts He picked up the body that was still in one piece and then the broken pieces around it. "This hallway has some oil and grease on the floor so be careful coming through here." He brought the parts and the body to Targon's quarters and then went to the medbay to heal his wrist. Kr walked in to find Tabitha there sitting on a table while the nanites worked. "The inside of your arm looks a lot like Steve's. Do you have a robotic arm or something?"

[kestrelfan]

derk starts warming up the ftl drive for a warp and pondering todays events, so far he has learned: tabitha is a robot?,their is an ai trying to control us all that isnt quintet, targon does electronic repair ,catsup is delicious,and spaceships can look like fireballs... altogether in his opinion a successful day on the job

[stylesrj]

"Robotic arm? Tabitha asked, looking at it and in her mind seeing flesh and blood. She then looked at the parts Kr was carrying and saw machinery. "Not that I know of. Flesh and blood here, like every other meatsack" she said "I told you before that I'm genetically engineered, not a cyborg. No robot parts here."
Hey Kr, maybe this will help... came that mysterious voice.
Suddenly a new file came up on Kr's personal communications device. A video file titled "Rebels kill and replace someone you know! Hashtag youwontbeleive it!"
It's not subtle but hey ruining the mystery is fun! Be sure to like and share it with your friends! But don't tell her about it.

The video consisted of Tabitha the Human running away from a Rebel patrol. The footage seemed to be mashed together from security cameras at the local spaceport and from the patrol's helmet-cams.
"There she is! Stop her!" one shouted, opening fire with his blaster.
A nearby Rebel soldier fell as a railgun blast tore his head a new hole.
Then as Tabitha approached one of the Rebel ships, the doors opened up and a Rebel Officer stepped out and planted a blaster shot into Tabitha's chest, instantly killing her. He looked into the camera, showing a remarkable resemblance to Steve... except he had a scar over his right eye.
"Take her away for Special Projects... execute the witnesses" Officer Steve said before the camera footage cut out - the last images showing the Rebel patrol being shot by what appeared to be also Steve.

[SciGuy303]

Arkangel felt the ship jump and noticed a station on the radar. He recognized it as a store. But there was something more to it... It was just...
"Everyone, you can shop around here. Meanwhile, I have some business to take care of." He proceeded to walk onto the station.

[stylesrj]

((This is one very populated empty beacon. First we escape a black market and hide behind a moon in another part of the sector... rescue a Lanius stranded near that moon, encounter a Federation ship in that same area, then a burning, flaming AI-controlled ship who can do telepathy and hacking and now there's a store we didn't find before...

Also, the fact that we've encountered more stores in this RP than a single FTL game also concerns me ))

[Chickengames]

Apparently there's more to this sector than we thought.

"Well I can clearly see that arm is not just flesh. It looks like it's robotic." Kr then heard the voice in his head for the first time. The video came up and he watched it intently while it looked like he was just staring.
Who are you? And how do I know this isn't fake?
"How do you know anything isn't fake? There's no way for you to prove it is or isn't."
Ok... You don't have a name?
"Oh I do, but if I told you I'd have to kill you and then who would I mess with?"
.....
"Alrighty then, being a little antisocial, huh? Oh yes, you learned that living with the pirates. 'Shut up or we'll cut your jaw out?' Is that what they said?"
How do you know about that?!?
"Have fun with that video!"
Hey!
No response from the voice. Kr realized he was still in the medbay with Tabitha giving him a weird look. "Uhh.. I have to go now." He backed out the door and ran to get the other parts.

[stylesrj]

"Something wrong?" Tabitha asked, seeing Kr staring at a screen.
She looked back at her arm and focused... and still only saw flesh just as it finished healing up.
Probably just a trick of the light...
They really did program you well Tabitha...

[SciGuy303]

Arkangel walked into the store, specifically scanning the walls for any oddities. Sure enough, he found one with a circle etched on it at the end of an alleyway. Arkangel took out a tablet (made from an extremely rare resource called clay), shaped his metalloid into a very thin needle and began etching some things. The first was a square circumscribed by a circle, the second was some unrecognizable phrases and the last was two rectangles, one above the other, one black, one white. He held up the clay tablet against the circle and waited.

Suddenly, the door slid open, and Arkangel walked inside, being sure to close the door behind him.

I'm not going to say what happened inside the room, but just know that it has something to do with his ramblings.

[elijahdb]

Targon scratched his head at the parts Kr had given him. "What the flaming crap are these? Maybe there's a booth that identifies machinery." He looked at the layout of the store from a picture they had rudely hacked into all computer monitors. There was one in Section II called Identification Services.
Targon put Steve's parts in a wheeled box, grimacing at the human-likeness of the skin, which was now peeling like paper. "I'll be back," he called over his shoulder at Derk and Kr. "Thanks for the parts!"
The shop was typical, with the booths selling a variety of products, from food to plain old metal. "Hey, a Space Whale vendor!" Targon hurried over and bought an entire basket of tail, his favorite. Munching on a catsup-slathered piece and rolling the box like a suitcase, he walked over to the Identification Services, or I.S. as their sign said. A bright red Mantis with huge hands had just finished helping a Zoltan with something, and as the glowing being walked away the Mantis turned to Targon. "How may I help you, brother?" He had a hint of Irish in his speech, confusing Targon a little.
"Hi, can you tell me what these are?" Targon opened the box, revealing some of the robotic parts. The Mantis frowned and picked one up. "I've seen this before.. Can't tell where though.. Oi, Grryada! You remember seeing this?" Another Mantis, this time a lilac purple color and female, hurried over from the other corner of the booth.
"Yup, I certainly remember those, Brryx." She took a part from under a table covered in pieces of machinery and held it up to the one her colleague was holding. It was a perfect match. "It belonged to a Rebel, right?" Targon nodded a little hesitantly, but she winked cheerfully. "Don't worry, I hate rebels as much as I hated my first husband."
"She ate him," Brryx explained to Targon. "All Mantis females are a wee bit unstable, in my opinion." He nudged Targon, chuckling.
"Now, now, I'll eat you too, even though you're my brother." Grryda laughed loudly and winked at Targon again.
I will never understand my kin.. Targon thought, feeling a little uneasy now. "So, can you tell me the type of machinery they're made of?" He asked hesitantly. The other Mantis were still laughing like crazy over their morbid joke.
"Yes, it's made from the latest Rebel robotic cloning," Grryda explained, wiping a tear from her eye. "You can read about it in any database, very easy to find."
"Thanks, have a nice day." Targon quickly walked away from the two quirky Mantis who were still giggling. I knew they were weird when he started talking to me.. Oh well.
"Wait, what the-" Targon had just seen a Lanius walk into a wall at the end of an alley. He shrugged it off, thinking that the wall was metal. Lanius love to go through that stuff.

Yes, indeed, what we thought to be a quiet sector turned into a chaos cluster.