[Chapter #1.2.1 - Crude Solutions]

The Captain's calm smirk grew into a wide grind for the faintest of moments as Johnny threatened the pirate. He was back to his regular self before you could clearly register the change, turning his gaze towards Robert. It was a very smug gaze.

Robert meanwhile turned to Johnny, his face becoming a grimace of anger. Or fear? It was difficult to tell, honestly. He turned to the Captain as if awaiting confirmation of what his crew was saying and the Captain slowly nodded. "Dammit, I knew this was a terrible idea. Damn Um, should've beaten you down back in the cloud, wouldn't be in this mess at this point."

"Before you start cursing your own captain, consider the situation where my crew disappeared into the cloud." The Captain smiled. "If we ended up consumed by the Hivemind, that would give it knowledge on where we sent our missing members last. The ASSW would be at your doorstep." As Robert's brow furrowed upward, his expression grew more worried by the moment. He seemed to fixate on the Dees skittering all over the floor before stomping right in front of one that had been passing by him at the moment. The stomp shook the room and would have, more than likely, squashed the Dee where it stood. He grabbed the reinforced 'mug' and gulped the rest of the ale down in one fell swoop. "Damn you all. The thing you took from the Hivemind, is it being tracked?" The Captain shook his head in response. "...We'll shelter you in Libertaria then. Can't waste any time. And repair your ship. And determine whether yer tellin' the truth. The dust cloud should keep us hidden even from the Hivemind's eyes, but ya better be gone as soon as everything's done, clear? And if yer lyin..." He clicked his claws inches from Captain's neck.

The Captain nodded once more. "It's a deal then."

Robert pointed his claw towards Cain then. "And you. I won't be hearin' any of yer yappering." He said in a harsh tone before lowering his claw and voice. "Damn Um. This might actually end us."

Aryll could've sworn the captain's smirk grew into a large, unsettling grin before returning to an almost condescending smirk, and watched as the large man's expression grew into a mask of concern and anger. The captain and the two locked eyes and stared each other down for a moment (did the man even blink?); and the man seemed to be forced into a corner. This "hivemind" which he still couldn't seem to place how it was familiar was very threatening, it seemed.

He glared over at the person beside him, frustrated at how he deflected the question. He felt like an outsider here, which he very much was. "Can someone," He asked, standing up slightly and pressing his palms onto the table, "Please explain where we are and why? I'm on a ship with people I don't know and a place I don't know...it's quite frightening, actually."

Johnny took a moment to take in the pirate's reaction, now that got them running scared. Johnny would smile if this wasn't for the fact this was a life or death situation. Thankfully Johnny's words had gotten through to Mr.Tall Dark and Brutish. Johnny would just nod at Robert "Thank you Cimeies." Johnny would have a sigh of relief as this has turned around for the better, he would eat one of the slices of bread on the table before moving on to another pressing matter, the newcomer.

Johnny would turn his attention to the new person who showed up earlier Johnny would walk up to him and placed his right hand on the mechanical boy's shoulder "We are on the ship the S.S Philemon, and we are currently stuck in a dust storm and we end up encountering pirates and we are talking to one of them. You see that big burly alien, that's one of the pirate who tried attacking us. Does this make sense so far mister?" Johnny would hope so, but considering this guy might have a few screws loose he wasn't betting on it. Johnny would look around the table for something that might appeal to the dude.

Johnny would pick up the first bottle that looked appealing to him and he poured its content into a cup and tapped the boy on the shoulder again, "Here you might want to drink this." Johnny offered the new person the unknown mystery drink he just plopped off the table, Whatever this drink was it was white in color, maybe this is like an alien drink like the purple stuff the Captain asked for. Johnny wasn't quite sure. Johnny took a moment to read the label, unfortunately this was written in strange-looking alien writing he did not recognize.

Quote :

—Strength Name: One Tribe
—Description: Thanks to the data banks in Johnny's CPU Johnny knows how to play the guitar (Obviously) and knows pretty much every song known to mankind with different translations in many different languages. Because of this information Johnny is able to read, speak and sing in any human language and can learn new ones provided its similar to a language he already knows

"Sorry to be a bother but can anyone read to me what this label says? I don't recognize the language on the label?" Well this was embarrassing, hopefully, it wasn't anything too strong. He may have possibly made a serious mistake. Oh well.

The Waddle-dee's continued to do their work, making sure to pack up some of the food that the others seemed to be favoring for them to take after the negotiations were done, as well as drinks and as the large Alien slammed his foot down the one Waddle-dee only looked up at him and then waved, completely unaffected by his attempt at intimidation before simply going around his leg and continuing to do it's work.

Others were making sure the ship was ready to get going once everything was done with, while another, wearing a little hat denoting it as the one in charge of the Waddle-dee's on the bridge, was overlooking the work being done and making sure the ship was in tip top shape, as well as it could be anyway with the current damage, it was even taking notes on the ships condition and once done gave the note to another Waddle-dee, one with Bunny ears, who saluted and then wandered over to the captain to hand him the note.

"Message from Skipper-Dee, All systems read ready, Ship is ready for movement at your order" the note said as apparently the Waddle-dee usually given the task to watch over the others on the bridge had changed into a Special-dee, explaining where it got the hat.

Meanwhile around the table as Johnny asked about the drink one of the Waddle-dee's seen the bottle and was handed a notepad by another Waddle-dee and it started to write then it scooted over to Johnny and gently tugged on his arm before handing him the note "That is Lorinnan Brandy, only people with a high tolerance should drink it, it's probably the second strongest drink here next to the Captains special" the note said as the waddle-dee gave a little salute.

It seemed that new guy was in a similar situation to the boomers. Here, yet with no reason. Perhaps it could be unrelated, but no one had any way of knowing. It didn't seem that more people showing up out of the void would provide any clues as to why it was happening. It would just keep happening with nothing to come of it. Cain sighed as a result. Everyone, except perhaps the Captain, was just as clueless. Maybe the Hivemind had something to do with it.

At least Bobert didn't get too pissed off. It looked like they'd be going to Libertaria after all, quick in, quick out, due to the others' handling of the situation. That was probably be the safest outcome for the Phil crew. "I suppose, then, we should get going. In and out, so neither of us have any trouble."  If he spent too much time with Bobert, Cain might go into a gamer rage.

"Excellent." The Captain clapped his hands as he smiled as innocently as a small playful child. "We'll be ejecting the two hivemind drones we defeated as bait for the hivemind. Then we'll proceed towards Libertaria." He said, nodding his head towards Robert and expecting a response.

Robert scoffed, getting up from the table and nearly knocking the food over. He grabbed one of the plates and threw all the food on it into his mouth in one gulp. When he began speaking again, the food would come flying back out in small pieces, all over the table. He likely knew it was happening and was enjoying it, judging from the small satisfied lumps forming in the corners of his eyes. "Lead the way. I won't be leavin any of ya out of me sight, so I'm comin with." He demanded. The Captain ignored the flying food and just nodded politely. "I have no qualms with that." He said, getting up himself.

"Waddle-dees, contact Eli and tell him we'll be off soon." He added before disappearing through the corridors with Robert.

Axis gazed after them, chewing a piece of jerky she picked up from the table. "AH, so cool!" She squealed like a fangirl. "We're meeting a whole city of pirates! I can't wait! What about you guys?" She noticed Aryll. "Huh, the Captain didn't really pay attention to you. That's strange, he usually does introduce himself to newcomers. Well, must've been because of this whole situation." She chuckled. "But if he saw you as a threat, he would've said something, so I suppose you're not a threat. Nice to meet you, my name's Axis Jen Alleia, and welcome to SS Philemon!"

Aryll flinched a little when Johnny placed a hand on his shoulder, reaching out with his fingers as if to grab Johnny's arm before calming himself and listening to his explanation. "Thank you." He murmured. He still didn't entirely understand, but it was best for him to go along for now.

However, when the cyborg offered him the strange purple beverage, Aryll declined as politely as he could. "I actually...do not know if I am able to drink," He told Johnny, gently setting the glass down on the table and sitting down to observe the proceedings. It seemed the two parties were coming to terms, and he watched as the captain and large man left the room as the person who Aryll had heard over Rika's communication link spoke up, seemingly very excited about making landfall on the planet below. When she addressed him, he spoke up, saying his name: "Thank you. My name is..." He said, pausing before adding "...Aryll." The name felt...unfamiliar, like it didn't belong to him, and his tone reflected that. Oh well, seemed he'd have to get used to it.

Johnny gave the pirate a bit of a glare when he spat out chunks and spread it all across the food, that was annoying as the newcomer could've probably used that food, Johnny just simply responded to the big burly pirate with a simple "Right." Johnny then turned his attention to some of the Waddle Dees "Hey excuse me Waddle Dees can you guys can take care of this mess please." Johnny would like to address the newcomer without the scent of alien spit pervading the room if it can be helped. Well at least this whole ordeal had a mostly tidy conclusion.

Johnny would then redirect his attention back to the newcomer as he decided to give a proper introduction to the newcomer after apologizing for the wine mix up. "Oh yeah I don't think you can drink this stuff, sorry I am not used to reading alien labels." with Axis's introduction Johnny was reminded of something vital "I nearly forgot to properly introduce myself. I am Jonathan Dyson I am the ship's local cyborg, but you can call me Johnny. It's a pleasure to meet you Ayrll." Johnny then took note of the canine that was with Ayrll, Johnny was wondering if it was a space wolf like the one Tequila has, perhaps it was commonplace in the post-world "I like your pet canine." Johnny wasn't sure if it was a dog or a wolf or some other kind of animal, either way it had a snooter, a cute little puppy snooter.

After admiring the Wolf for a moment Johnny would then address Axis's pirate city remarked "I am both excited and somewhat scared. I never been to a planet outside of Earth before, So this will be a very exciting experience for me." Johnny was half tempted to make a joke about how hopefully the other pirates are just as stupid as Bobby Roberts but something from earlier caught Johnny's attention. "Hey Axis you said earlier your sister dealt with pirates before? Did she give any advice on how to deal with them?" Johnny was hoping to glean any information possible, he is going to a new world after all it would be nice to know how to deal with the local inhabitants and all that funky stuff.

The Waddle-dee's all suddenly got into motion, cleaning up the spit and one rushing out the door at top speed looking like a little round blur as it went to pass the message along so it could get to Eli, which wouldn't take very long at all really.

The mess meanwhile was cleaned efficiently and as the spat on food was taken away more was brought in to replace it though in slightly lesser quantity due to the meeting seemingly winding down, the Two Mega Dee's continued to wait for everything to be over as they would be helping with taking every back to where they needed to be, after all it was more efficent for them to help with the tables and the larger containers.

Ether way after some few minutes the cleaning was done and the Skipper-Dee handed a not to the captain "Eli Reports ready whenever you are captain" and the little special dee gave a salute.

Cain watched the Dees with a sort of non-sorrowful pity. They simply did whatever was requested of them, without question. Was it out of compassion they acted, or Stockholm syndrome? Was there one day going to be a Dee uprising? A swarm of Punished Dees? That would be very frightening.

Johnny's statement reminded Cain that he, too, had never been on another planet. "Hey, maybe the gravity'll be less and we can jump higher. It could also be more, though." That would make exercising more efficient, probably. He was excited to find out which one it was. If it was the same, that might be a little boring, despite the convenience of being used to it. The air could also be toxic for humans. That thought was also very frightening.

Axis winked happily towards Aryll before turning to Johnny as he addressed her. As she turned towards him, her smile turned slightly bitter, awkward almost. She seemed to be picking words.

"I, well... I hadn't really heard much from my sister really..." She said with a forced chuckle. "O-oh, but right, some of you guys are from that Pre-World thingy! Do humans not travel through space back there?" She asked, leaning forward with a wide, glistening grin and eyes, though it was apparent she was changing the subject.

"OH, I wonder that too!" Axis chirped towards Cain. "Last time I'd been on a planet with lower gravity I had soooooo much fun just jumping up and down cliffs! Rock climbing is a lot more fun when you can just pull yourself up through the air like a spaceship!"

As you conversed, however, suddenly, an alert blared through the SS Philemon. Played through the speakers, most everyone on board would have been able to hear the Captain's voice and his warning/request.

//This is the Captain speaking. We have a loose ASSW on board. I repeat, we have a loose ASSW on board.// His voice was calm and collected as always, he didn't sound like he was in a rush. At least that made everyone feel a bit safer too. However, another voice could be heard in the background. //Oi you said you've beaten it down!// It was Robert's voice. Unlike the Captain, he sounded tired and breathing heavily. //After that shipwreck, I'm runnin' on a peg leg!// The Captain interjected in the announcement. //Yes, as I wanted to say; I'm requesting able combat personnel to rush to the  dock area. Our dear associate here will hold the ASSW back until then.//

//I'm gonna wha-//

The transmission cut, leaving you flabbergasted. Axis was confused for a moment but she quickly slapped herself back together and looked you in the eye. "Guys, we should go! I have no clue how, but one of the ASSWs seems to have come back to life. We've gotta stop it!"

[Chapter #1.2.1 END]

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