"My job. I would very much like to have a more sane job.
In all seriousness, I just need to relax a little bit, get a drink."

>>257764
The only way this could have gone better was if you'd slapped him on the back at the same time.

Fix yourself a drink.

I'd say 'I've had a bad day and need a drink', but all things considered its more like I've had a bad every hour and need a drink.

Ask him if Mongro has done anything suspicious ever anywhere. Go ahead and tell him why we're asking. Also, ask him if he knows anyone that might be able to put the mainframe back together.

>>257818
Why? Why would you suggest this? /o\

>>257818 No. We may as well ask him if he's seen anything, but we're not mentioning Mongro or the mainframe.

>>257818
Lets not do this.

Get a drink. Listen to what he has to say.

Suggestion 2010/11/19(Fri)08:58 No. 258034 ID: f5e4b4
File 129018590243.png - (214.12KB , 1000x750 , 579.png )

My job. I would very much like to have a more sane job. In all seriousness, I just need to relax a little bit, get a drink.

And Tiak does so, while Dan just mumbles something incoherent as an answer and keeps slurping his drink.

After a bit, Tiak breaks the silence again.

By the way, have you seen Mongro doing anything suspicious lately?

>Bfghh, I haven' seen Mongoor at all lately. I don't wanh to have any bushhness wif ther kind anyho'. They hate us.

Huh...

>Ehh, fuck it! Thafts what I say. You could try to be... niice wif them and they woul' still hate you. Nothing changes. Like dat fucker. He's finally dead, but that's not gonna...

He suddenly shuts up and focuses back on his drink, not talking anymore.

>>258034
Dan's glass is empty. You must rectify this.

The bartender's dead, huh? Press him for details. How did he die?

wait, how does he know mongro is dead?

>>258034
Pour him another drink. He must remain drunk.

That other camera must have been his...

>>258047
He may be talking about one of the others. Trake, for example. Keep him talking, keep him drinking.

>>258034
"Which he is dead?"

He clearly doesn't want to talk about it, for some reason. Directly bringing it up won't get us anywhere. If we want to get him to talk about it we'll probably need to start talking about something RELATED but not directly about dead people. Which... probably means we'll need to guess who's dead to begin with.
How about that mainframe, then? Ask him if he's good with computer hardware, or knows someone on the flight that might be good with computer hardware.

Suggestion 2010/11/19(Fri)15:00 No. 258080 ID: f5e4b4
File 129020760653.png - (159.73KB , 1000x750 , 580.png )

Here, let me fill up your glass.

Tiak locates the bottle with the same liquor the Navigator is taking and fills the glass up. For a moment Dan seems like he's going to protest, but finally just grabs the starts drinking peacefully.

So...who is dead? Mongro? The bartender?

>Whaat? Naaah... Unless youu killd dem. I mean... Ya look like you jusht gutted someone.

Tiak realizes that his uniform is still soaked in the blood of the dead mercenary.

>Naaah... I'm talkin' aboot dat fucker! Everybody hated 'im. Baooom! there went his head! Just like.... Waaaitt, I knoo what you trying to do! You're makin' me drunk so I talk and you can use that shit against me and throw me in jail. Well, not gonna work! Not gunna say a word more!

"What, me? Naaaah."

Take a sip to emphasize the point.

>>258080
>Everybody hated 'im.
>Dan speaking
>Dan's scuffle was with the bartender
You might want to look behind the bar and into the kitchen, Tiak.

>>258080
"Naw, I'm just ship security. I can't put anybody in jail. 'sides, if everybody hated 'im and you're not them then you should tell me who everybody hates, right?"

...
soo, he's at least a witness, and at most a murderer.
I have a bit of a hard time believing someone caught up in a conspiracy that can't hold liquor well would be getting publicly drunk. So, I'm guessing one of three things:
1) He's a innocent witness that is trying to stay alive (maybe he was approached and threatened by Zeno?) and out of jail (just a general fear of police/law).
2) He killed someone for a spur of the moment reason. ... Mat's all I can really think of here, unless there was another recent death we haven't heard of yet.
3) He's a crazy good actor and involved in a conspiracy. Seems far fetched and paranoid but may be par for this ship.

I'm inclined to say to just finish your drink, wrap up the conversation if he really mums up, and go... figure out a safe place to crash I guess? Honestly he strikes me more like a person to protect and get on his good side than anything else.

Can't put anyone in prison, it blew up. So then you were saying..?

Suggestion 2010/11/19(Fri)16:49 No. 258107 ID: f5e4b4
File 129021416536.png - (157.73KB , 1000x750 , 581.png )

Me? Naah, I'm just ship security, I don't go around putting people in jail.

Tiak finishes his own drink, but Dan doesn't look significantly more confident.

>No, I'm... I'm onto you. Yeash. I know your game. You tried to shneak into my room earlier. Yah, I remmember it! I wassh ther! And you tried to take a look at them, the letter and... and the picshture. The picture from... Wait, yer doin' it again! I'm not talkin' to you now. Leave me alone!

The Navigation officer focuses on his drink and in keeping his balance, and his ass, on the stool.

>>258107
Why would we want to take a look at the picture and letter? We were just checking to make sure you were alive, man. Three people have died already. We gotta stick together, right?

>>258107
Hey. Hey lets go to his room and snoop a bit.

>>258107
"What? How could I have snuck into your room if you were there? That doesn't make any sense. I was worried that somebody might have gotten to you.
Besides, I already know about the letter and the picture, I just want to make sure you know what I know about what I know about what you know about them. And make sure that nobody else has died when I wasn't looking; which dead person did everybody hate? There were a few of them."

>>258107
Fine. He's in a known place. Check the captain-cam. Start checking the cabins. We probably have another body to discover and that means sleep will have to wait.

Suggestion 2010/11/20(Sat)01:26 No. 258344 ID: f5e4b4
File 129024516187.png - (150.50KB , 1000x750 , 582.png )

Tiak's attempts to keep communicating with Dan are in vain, the Navigation Officer sticks with his stubborn silence.

So Tiak says bye and heads down to the Crew Quarters again, and into Dan's room, which is obviously unoccupied at the moment.

In his way here he checks his camera stuck in the vents over the Captain's office. It's curious, the Captain still isn't sitting at his desk.

Oh don't tell me the CAPTAIN is dead now?

Go look at the paper and photo.

Check everything! You know the drill: desk, under desk, casket, in bed, under bed, in pod.

>>258344
Yup, check everything! Put stuff back the way you found it though. :V

Oh, and if you laser sub-rifle has a STUN setting, set it to that NOW if you haven't already.

Suggestion 2010/11/20(Sat)17:15 No. 258492 ID: f5e4b4
File 129030213579.png - (253.19KB , 1000x750 , 583.png )

Tiak looks everywhere, but he doesn't find much. The cryo-pod is empty, there's nothing hidden in, nor under the bed. The desk doesn't have any drawers, there's nothing on the chair and the chest is locked.

There's something on the desk, though. It's a photograph, turned upside down. It's old, looks like it's been taken many years ago. In it, Tiak can see three Maurians in their desert infantry uniforms, posing in a friendly manner. It's easy to recognize the one in the middle, it's Dan. Tiak doesn't think he's even seen the one on the right, but the one on the left seems familiar.

>>258492
Flip the photo back over before you leave. Next... let's see if the bartender is still in his room?

aww, shit. i see where this is going, navigator and a girl had a thing and bartender was jealous, fight probably broke her and him up and now they hate eachother.

>>258496
...I guess they have the light skin, but I thought shortness was also part of Maurian gender dimorphism. Tiak? Surely you can identify the gender of one of your own. :V

>>258492
Clearly, we need to drop by the bartender's room.
"Mok, I was just talking with Dan, and he seems to reminisces when he gets drunk. His time in the service came up; I didn't know you served together... He mentioned somebody died, then got really quiet and stopped talking.
Maybe you could talk to him?"

Suggestion 2010/11/21(Sun)07:12 No. 258647 ID: f5e4b4
File 129035236381.png - (197.90KB , 1000x750 , 584.png )

Tiak leaves the picture just how he found it, and heads for Mok, the bartender's room. Again he can hear that faint tinkering noise coming from the inside, but the sound ceases as soon as he gets closer too the door.

Almost right after he knocks on it, Mok opens up and remains standing in the doorway.

>What is it now?

Mok, I was just talking with-

>What the fuck happened with you!? Did you just eat someone alive or what?

Unsurprisingly, wearing a suit coated in dry blood isn't the best way to leave a good impression on other people.

>>258647
Alright, alright, you can stop by the spare uniform wardrobe next.

But the answer for now is another of those glares. And, hey, the Bartender's not dead yet, hooray. That's at least three people still alive.

>>258647
"These have been the worst two days I can remember, lets just leave it at that.
Anyway..." then continue what you were saying.

>>258647
"Long story. Anyway, I'm just checking up on everybody to make sure nobody else has been hurt."

Ugh. Okay the next thing we do is we go down to the supplies closet and get a new uniform. This is ridiculous!

"As one of the increasingly few people not trying to kill me, I was making sure you weren't dead. Glad you aren't. Carry on."

Suggestion 2010/11/22(Mon)07:53 No. 258965 ID: f5e4b4
File 129044118967.png - (170.07KB , 1000x750 , 585.png )

>>258501

It's actually kind of hard to tell for Tiak. The main way Maurians tell their genders from one another is by using their smell sense, identifying the sexual hormones. And you can't smell that on a picture.

Besides that, sexual diphormism is very vague in Maurians. The females usually have a more pink-ish tone of carapace and a lighter body build, but not always. And under those dull scout uniforms it's really hard to tell.
Tiak thinks that the one on the right of the picture might be a woman, but he can't be 100% sure.

Long story and the worst day of my life, all combined.

>...

Anyways, I was checking up on everybody to make sure nobody else has been hurt. Glad you aren't. Carry on

>...Yeah, whatever.

The bartender shuts the door and Tiak heads to the Supplies room, putting on the last spare security uniform available. He better not make a mess out of this one too!

He finds the items he stored in this uniform more than a day ago, the pill, the picture of Zira and the gambling related note. He stores them in the bloody uniform and leaves it in the cabinet.

...why the hell are there claw marks on the door and a blood splatter too?

Check to see if the captain's still missing from his office and go up there to snoop.

well then, to the brig for a nap.

Suggestion 2010/11/23(Tue)13:13 No. 259227 ID: f5e4b4
File 129054679012.png - (321.10KB , 1000x750 , 586.png )

Those aren't claw marks, and that's not blood. Tiak looks through the camera, enough to see that the captain is back at his desk.

Exhausted, he heads back to the brig (crawling through the vents). He hides the bomb inside the cryopod and is going to leave his new weapon on the floor, next to the bed, where he can reach it easily.

Suggestion 2010/11/23(Tue)13:14 No. 259228 ID: f5e4b4
File 129054684811.png - (48.08KB , 1000x750 , 587.png )

This bed wasn't designed with the idea of being comfortable as its top priority, but is not like Tiak has much choice.

The world starts to fade away and Tiak finally can rest.

Suggestion 2010/11/23(Tue)13:14 No. 259229 ID: f5e4b4
File 129054689369.png - (28.25KB , 1000x750 , 588.png )

Bzzzzzzt



END OF CHAPTER 4

>>259227
Argh, you should be cuddling it like a teddy bear at this point!

If it's gone when you wake up, you might as well just take a stroll out the airlock and see what hyperspace tastes like. :V

>>259230
Right now the only other person who can actually get into the brig is Zira, and she probably won't be that interested in taking our stuff.