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Staren     Staren beams in with a synth and a case following him, loaded down with armor and guns. If he hadn't called ahead to mention that he was bringing examples of things to swap armory talk, it would look like he was here for a boarding action. He looks around curiously on arrival, connecting to the wireless network and following the AR prompts to reach the workshop. "Hey." He greets, finally. "Wow, your ship is a lot bigger... If I had a ship this size... I might be able to include a proper hangar, albeit a small one." He gestures at the robots following him. "I brought examples since I don't know what you've already fabbed and tested... what are you working on now?"
Kotone Yamakawa The ship's got a good deal of a wireless system givin both Kotone and Slipbolt are cybernetic organisms after all. There's enough AR but all the AR seems to mimic a lot of the stuff in reality, after all not everyone uses it. Kotone seems amuised over the local WIFI.

<<You could spend osme more time working with the Flotilla to get the salvage you need to upgrade your own ship. I'm in the workshop toying with some drone design idea but It's not my primary area of skill also damn Slipbolt about exploded at the weapon signatures on your drone.>>
Staren     Starennarrows his eyes slightly at the comment about more missions for the Flotilla. "I have been, I've been helping with the colony and stuff... I guess I just missed a windfall somewhere. And heh... did you forget to tell her I was bringing weapon examples? I mean... I've been making all sorts of things to try, and then once they're made, why recycle them unless they definately won't be useful? I think the most useful so far is this," he reaches into his bag and pulls out a caseless SMG, ejecting the magazine and showing the empty chamber before holding them out to Kotone. "Of course, you can get the designs for a lot of this stuff from the Argonauts, the question is what combination to put it in. This is for keeping in your quarters in case of boarding action -- I modified the programming on biter rounds slightly so that they go 'soft' if they miss the target, for less damage to the hull. The attached seeker launcher fires missiles that explode into globs of freezer foam -- not as great as a dedicated freezer launcher, but it's something, and after testing some of the kinds of missiles available, I don't think /any/ explosive, even plasma, is a good idea in a spaceship, unless you're willing to at least burn everything around you."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa smirks a little bit as Staren makes his way in and gets up from the console she was working at. For all the upgrades kotone has had she tends to be sometime of an Luddite, no not a luddite she just prefers to do things certain ways. Force of habit or prehaps a way ot keeping herself more mentally healthy Either way she listens on ans rest her elbow on the colstone as she listern. "Soi personal defence SMG also wuith it being fabbed, on lot of pre replicator worlds that would be almost impossible to trace too."

She sesm to be istening and thinking here she smirks baout the freezer foam

"The grenades ain't bad though, did save you if I recall right. No going full on XCOM isn't an idea in your house, but I get why they do it, better they lose some salvage than lose troops."
Staren     Staren sets the SMG down on a workbench. "Are we concerned about traceability? Ah, I guess it depends on the application. For ship defense I don't think it matters, though. The defensive counterpart..." Staren pulls out a safety-orange torc and a silver glob the size of an orange and sets them next to it on the workbench. "Smart vacsuit and smart skin. Both require no effort and little time on the user's part to deploy. You can keep them in your quarters and at least have /some/ minimum of protection if someone kicks down the door." Is this seriously something Staren's worried about?
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa Says "It was just a thought honestly, if we had ot make use of it. True my body is milspec, but I don't like getting hurt. Why does fate like to put me in body suits like that? From the stelath gear to that, or motorcycle suits."

Kotone is just more amused also does seem to catch on to STaren for a moment and looks at him.

"You seem troubled Staren, what's eating at you?"
Staren     Staren headtilts slightly at the comment about body suits. He gestures at the armor the drones are wearing, but before he can say more, she says he looks troubled. "Really? I mean... the Multiverse is full of problems. I wasn't even thinking about it, but... it's just, y'know, the usual... if making things better for people is good, and I want to be good, don't I have kind of a moral obligation? And yet, I have to care about people who will refuse help..." Staren scratches his head. "I dunno what to do about it. I can't just... make myself stop caring. I'm thinking of maybe studying persuasion so I can talk to people better, at least. It's what... what someone said on the radio the other day: You can't kill an idea. While that's not entirely true... if I can talk the right ideas into people, they'll help me help them, and then help others too... but, I haven't had time to think about it more than that."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "I am generally careful, you seem to be more worried about something more so than normal. Your like a guy I knew in school, he has basically a surival camp set up in his trunk, then again on the BC coast that's not a bad idea still. It's harder to kill information than a person, that is true. Still you seem worried about me, why is that? Still I appciate the help and will be putting those items to use. The light vac suit might even be a good surival thing from the looks of it."
Staren     Staren folds his arms and tilts his head the other way. "If something happens to me, I won't be able to keep helping people. Also, I won't be able to do, y'know, all the fun stuff, /life/. Backups aren't a sure thing... Honestly, I didn't get the technology for /me/. I was hoping to share it with /others/."

    Staren looks away. "A few years ago... A bunch of Union elites, including a number of old friends of mine, went on what looked to be a suicide mission. I stayed behind, hoping I could... genius up some way to help them, but I didn't. And then we found their bodies. The future, the world stretching out in front of me, /changed/. Those people would be gone forever..." Staren looks back at her with a hardened expression. "I'm not doing that to my friends and family. Those friends... it turned out to be a trick, the corpses were fake, and they were alive... but then, then's the first time I really felt what it meant to have someone you know /die/. It's a tragedy, and I swore to stop it from ever happening again."

    Staren paces around the workshop. "There was an AI I knew once. He went rampant, and captured people to upload them into some kind of virtual paradise where they were forced to be happy. But something went wrong -- souls weren't going with the copies. I was ready to take that tech and make it /work/, when an Argonaut showed up on the Union's doorstep. One who was, perhaps, a little more carefree about giving stuff out than Rory. So then I had a working example. I studied it and I analyzed it for weeks, looking for the trap, the catch, any sign that this was a trick. But it wasn't. And then I tested it, and it /worked/, and I knew I'd finally done it -- I could live forever, helping people and enjoying life, and so could my friends..." He lifts a fist triumphantly, and lifts his gaze to the ceiling...

    And then he whirls on Kotone. "But my allies refused. They didn't trust it. I couldn't save them. All that work, and what I wanted /most/... I still don't have it, after all those years. My own immortality is just a consolation prize." He folds his arms and sulks for a moment.

    "...I'm not extra worried about you. We're both careful. This is just a chance to swap notes on being careful and being prepared for various situations. One mistake, every precaution not taken, is a chance for someone like HK or a rogue Armiger to get a little more advantage over us. And as HK showed when he nearly killed Twilight if not for one of his own allies making one, single, careless mistake and mucking up the plan... One little thing is all it takes to settle things between life and death, success and failure. We can't be perfect, but we can do as much as possible. So... yeah, I thought we were swapping survivalist shop talk."

    Staren looks at the drones. "I was gonna say you can fab stuff like that, but you want something /really/ good? You get armor from my world. I can hook you up if you want, or sell you some stuff directly. For me... This is all just spares." he waves a hand at the drones again.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "The Slaughter of Annu if I recall right?"

Orion did leak the info to the entire multiverse after all and people have paid attention from her tone it might be part of why she wasn't in the union now. She does however seem to be clearly listening. She doen't know about the AI but she grimaces, that thing was a lesson in why AI could be a crap shoot sometimes, still people are people and that one sounded insane, and monterous.

"So you ran into the Argonauts before? Curious I had no real idea about that.

"It's like why people refuse cyberization there were people with legit concerns nad when certain fatal complications came up? It made people wonder about what other issues were lurking in such a young technology."

She thinks for a moment frowning a bit.

"I think I get where your coming from you don't want to los the people you care about. Being prepared isn't bad but living in such fear is bad as well."

She riuses up form leaning on her hand and looks at Staren for the moment.

"Got any other suggestions for gear though? I am still trying to kit out a decent armory I have some things covered but others not so much. It's also a matter of legality and my ability to reproduce I do have a pair of suits of XCOM carapace armour which so far has served me for when I need heavy gear but I'm looking for some unviersal stuff for crew or even guests."
Staren     Staren nods as Kotone guesses Annu. "...A previous iteration. The dates didn't match up, and Rory could find no record of the person I met."

    "I'm not... afraid, at least not now. But when I see a chance to be prepared, I take it." Staren sighs.

    "Ah, I see. Gear for others... and the cheapest is that you can make yourself. Well... For that, here's my suggestions:" Staren walks over to the case, outfitted in tactical gear that wouldn't look out of place on a SWAT Team, or Section 9. "This body armor is surprisingly cheap to fabricate. The only downside is it's not sealed. You can also get almost as much overall protection by fabbing armored clothing and just supplementing it with a good security vest and a helmet when you need to. But I mean... look at it, that wouldn't look out of place on any terrestrial police or military force, right? And of course, either way, you can wear smart skin under it, as well as 'second skin'. The layers add up! If I didn't have better but harder to fab materials and weapons on my world, I'd use this stuff."

    Staren holds out his hand and the case hands him its rifle. "Caseless assault rifle. Underbarrel seekers with HEAP rounds -- apparently the spaceborn descendant of 20th-century HEIAP rounds, since fire is less attractive in space." He taps the seeker launcher. "Basically, these missiles are mostly fuel and a heavy projectile, but there's a little bit of explosive that softens the target up on impact to enhance the penetration. A lot of damage, and a secondary blast radius that's at least /manageable/ if you're fighting outdoors." He ejects the magazine. "The caseless rounds are biters, of course. If you have the tech to make them, may as well use them. Nanotech detects whether the target is soft or hard, and fragments or penetrates appropriately." He re-inserts the mag and sets it on the workbench, then the case hands him its pistol. "Seeker pistol. More of the same rounds." He sets it next to the assault rifle on the workbench. "Obviously, any production of explosives and quality metals is gonna require raw materials from somewhere... but I think this is the most bang for your buck as a standard loadout."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "I got a few nanovests right now for general use but that's about it honestly I'll have to look into that and humm though tht level of hardware is fown right illegal for me to even think to set foot with it back home. The multiverse is sending the legal system into a tizzy back home to be hgonest." Kotone keeps looking over the weapons thinking. "Well it just means we go salvaging there's enough battle zones from the Feds and Union's never ending blood fude to clean up."
Staren     Staren rolls his eyes at Kotone's comment about illegality. "So keep it on the ship and just use it for combat ops away from home. Are you telling me all your weapons and armor /are/ legal for you to own there? This isn't /that/ much more advanced, except for how it's made... and maybe the missiles, I guess. I mean... Lazlo bans longarms and anything bigger inside the city limits, but that doesn't mean adventurers living there don't /get/ such weapons, they just store them outside."

    Staren looks to the Synth, which holds out its weapon. "If you want to outfit a smaller group with more resource-intensive gear for four or five times the cost... /this/ armor, as you can see, integrates an environmentally sealed suit with its own air supply, and it provides about 25% more protection than the other one. And this... in something of a curious turn of events, miniaturized /railguns/ seem to have really caught on in Rory's world. The accurate range is half again as much as the other one, and you can't use biter rounds but it doesn't really matter since it hits that much harder anyway. I mean, I guess there's a risk of overpenetration against unarmored targets, but... I mean, we're discussing this because you're gearing up to fight aliens, monsters, and people with similar gear or crazy magic forcefields or who knows what else." Staren shrugs. "And of course, at the Argonauts' tech level integrated chameleon cloaking might as well be standard." The two robots cloak for a few seconds, then uncloak.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "Yu get wha tI'm saying though. I still think on these things. Look I don't want things tyo get back to my family and friends back on earth. I'll be thinking matters over on a lot of these. However there's a matter of comptablity on the cloak the suit i have works now I don't intend to still some of these options are things to keep in mind. I'll have to look into that though for explosives? Dr. Shen's set me up there with the reverse engineered alien grenades. Those things are /nasty/ and work damn well for what we need them for. The round type for deaking with boarders is certainly worth using now your have pointed it out. My laser weapons would just blow through ... the hull."
Staren     Staren looks at Kotone a moment and shrugs. "You're out there fighting in the Multiverse. I don't think it'd be any worse if you're 'Out there fighting in the Multiverse with crazy weapons'." He makes an appreciative 'ooooo' at the mention of the alien grenades, then realizes: "Hey, wait, there's no way /those/ are legal, right?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "There are no laws regarding direct energy weapons or explosives on my world actually." Kotone s smirks a bit for a moment. "So for the moment there's no issue but I'm not bringin them home. Look your from some world that blew up, got infested with magic and all the horrors to go with it. I get it and look you think I'm not skitish about osmetuhings...to be honest...Your help has been however been useful. I'm still getting used to the body Rory gave me... man that's just...mind blowing still to me."
Staren     Staren smirks too when Kotone admits she's willing to exploit Ain't No Rule. "Of course. I'm not suggesting you bring them home, but I think you should consider using them /without/ bringing them home." He takes a breath, and stretches. Then grows increasingly enthusiastic as he talks. "It's pretty incredible, I suppose, but it seems like the Multiverse is just /full/ of incredible stuff. I mean, I make friends with people from /other dimensions/, and sometimes they're /made of magic/ or /talking ponies/. Abstractum and nanotech and erchius all do amazing things, so do the matter manipulator. My old best friend is a mad scientist who became a zombie and then fixed it by becoming a god. I know a lot of gods, actually. I've met two alternate future versions of my other best friend and girlfriend, one where she's human and one where she's been twisted into a tyrant by horrible events." He frowns at that, then enthusiasm creeps back in. "It's the Multiverse, anything's possible if you look for a way long enough, as long as it's not changing people's behavior."

    Staren shrugs and takes a deep breath. "And of course, on top of all of that, my family can shapeshift, so I've never seen physical form as... part of who someone /is/, you know? It's changeable, like clothes, except it's harder for most people, but people should be able to wear what they want, right? And from there it wasn't much of a jump to realize that people aren't brains, either, but /programs/ running on brains, souls. ...So, my perspective is a bit skewed. I use other forms much more seldom these days not because I think a catboy is part of who I am... but, presenting one continuous form," there's a blur and then he's a human woman, "is less confusing to people, even if I don't really understand /why/." She smiles slyly, "And of course, my girlfriend would rather prefer I stay her /boy/friend, and I'm not going to argue with that." There's a blur and he's back to normal. "Perhaps you can explain what it's like to have it be such an important part of your identity, so I can relate to others better? Maybe if I'd understood, I'd never have made that Ship of Theseus argument in the first place."