((Some people might know I tend to write quite a bit of MxO related stuff but I don't usually post here. Anyway, I liked this last one I did and it effects some character issues so I thought I might as well. It's set (well I started writing it) a few months ago while Anome was still about so there's a couple of past references. It's all finished now too but rather then give it all in one big blok I'll post it in appropriate chunks. Hope you enjoy.))
The last few months had been good to Asamodai. Life amongst the Machines was not half as bad as people in Zion would have you believe. It was pretty much the same, you set down in a different place when you needed to recharge your ship or pick up supplies.
He'd been assigned to the Straylight shortly after him and AmatsuKaiser had met with Agent Pace. They'd taken in his freeborn operator's Gabe and Bronco too. AK had been moved on shortly after. He went with the Starylight's old Lieutenant Traxada when the Machines gave him his own ship. Asa missed having the guy around, he'd gotton used to having him around, generally just stood quietly around the ship. They had promoted Asamodai in Traxada's place though and AK had taken the same role on his new ship. Yes, things definatly seemed to be looking up.
It had been operatives from these and other allied Machine ships that had rescued him from Asalius too. They had slain his spiteful little brother too. He appreciated it of course, it would have been him or them, but if everything Asalius had told him while he had him imprisoned was true, it meant Asamodai had no family left at all, awake or in the system. It was strange, he had abandoned his parents and the rest of his family long ago, but somehow, knowing they were at least half alive within the simulation brought him some comfort. He had for some time felt entirely alone here. But now, he had his new family and all the baggage he'd been carrying with him from Zion had simply faded away.
It felt like just another day, Asamodai had just awoken and devoured a pan full of nutritionally enriched slop. Sure a lot of people complained about the food around here but you got used to it, and you couldn't deny the health benefits. He strode through the ship and climbed the ladder up to the cockpit. He found Lady3Jane strapped into the pilots seat on the right hand side. He took a seat at the navigator's post beside her and strapped himself in too.
"Morning" the Captain greeted him as he sat down.
"How can you tell?" Asa replied with a joking smirk.
"I dunno, force of habit I guess." LJ laughed a little and shrugged.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Asa asked.
"Not a lot really. I may send a team to run a few sweeps, keep Anome's goons in check until we can finish this whole thing."
"So, do we have time for a little detour?
"Depends what you had in mind." LJ said, looking curious.
"My old ship. We abandoned it when we came aboard. There's a few things that should still be there I was hoping to get a chance to pick up." Asa looked at the navigation readouts on the screen in front of him. "It's not too far from here." his finger hovered over the screen briefly before dropping on a point. "Right there. At least...it should be."
LJ leaned over to her left and looked at the monitor where Asamodai was pointing. She gave a quiet hum and nodded. "Yeah I think we can slip over there. You planning on being long?"
Asa shook his head "Nah, just in, grab a few things, out."
LJ nodded again. "Ok, get yourself ready we'll be there soon."
"Thanks, I owe ya one." Asa said, undoing his harness and climbing down back into the bowls of the ship.
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Little under an hour passed before the internal comms flared with the sound of the Captains voice.
"We're here Lieutenant. I'm just setting her down."
"Great, I'll be on my way out." Asa picked up a bag and a thick jacket and headed towards the rear access hatch. He passed some of the other crew on the way out. Terracus, DoubbleSix and Lojix were carrying out a little routine maintenance on the power lines running up the ship.
"Hey." Asa called to them.
The three of them snapped to attention. "Lieutenant?" they asked in unison.
Asamodai sighed, "As you were. For God's sake stop doing that." The other crewmen sniggered, they knew that kind of formality made the First Mate uncomfortable.
"Ha de ha. Now, how'd you guys like to help me grab a few bits from my old ship?"
They looked amongst themselves and seemed to all shrug at each other indifferently. There were murmurs of affirmation from the trio who grabbed jackets of their own and followed Asamodai out.
The four of them walked out of the Straylight and into a small cavern, only slightly bigger then the ship itself.
"Wow, nice spot." Terracus mused.
"Mmhmm. You have no idea how hard it was for me and AK to fit this in here. Seems to have kept it safe though." Asa replied.
The four of them got down to the rear access hatch and Asamodai placed his palm on a scanner, moments later the ramp lowered and the group got on board.
"So what are we after?" Lojix asked.
"You guys may as well take whatever you can salvage from the medical bay, the kitchen and engineering. I have a few things I wanna grab out of my old quarters."
The men nodded and somehow seemed to all know where they were gonna go.
Asamodai wandered through the old dark halls. A few moments later the lights came on.
"I guess one of them reached engineering." he said with a shrug and kept going. It wasn't long before he was pushing open the heavy door to his old sleeping quarters. He laughed at the still unmade bed and the items of clothing still left under his chair. He picked them up and stuffed them into the bag he'd brought. Then he reached under the bed, pressing his head to the floor and reaching right to the back wall. He smiled as he found the small metal box he'd tucked away. He opened it up and rifled through the contents. Just a few little things, including a sketch of him and Asania his old friend Almore had drawn long ago. It brought back memories and for a few minutes he was lost in his happier past. He snapped out of it as he heard the others clanging around upstairs. He stuffed the box into his bag with the rest of his things and headed back upstairs.
He ran into Lojix carrying a crate full of medical supplies and DoubleSix with the emptied out contents of the ships food stores.
"We're just headed back." Lojix stated.
"Ok, where'd Terracus go?" Asa asked.
"He went down to the engine room like you suggested." 66 replied.
"Ok, I'll go grab him. I promised LJ we wouldn't be long. I'll see you back on the ship." Asa said and headed back down to the engine room as the other went back to the Straylight.
A couple of minutes later Asamodai found Terracus digging around picking out discarded tools and spare parts. His bag was heaving as the young man tried to lift it over his shoulder.
"Wow, I didn't realise I'd left this much." Asa mused.
Terracus got to his feet, just noticing that he had company. "Yeah just a bit. LJ will be happy with it. We won't need to restock back at the outpost for a while."
"Well, you take that lot up. I'll grab a few last bits and be up in a minute."
"Ok, see ya later." Terra said, hulked the bag over his shoulder and making his way out. Asamodai dropped his partially filled bag and started collecting a few more parts. He reached down and picked up an object in a black bag he didn't recognise.
"What the hell is this?" he asked himself as he slid it out of a bag. As soon as he touched it's surface a screen lit up with the number 1:00. "Huh?" the number turned to :59. "Oh *poop*!" he yelled, tossing it away and sprinting for the access ramp, jumping down ladders and dashing down corridors.
Feet from the access ramp it detonated. The explosion tearing through the ship, bringing the ship and the cavern in on itself.
