2011-05-17 - Trading Information

It has been a busy few days for Sinya and the crew of the SuiKyosha. Not only have quite a few people taken refuge in the La Gian battleship, but a good chunk of repair work was going on. The hangar seems bigger than in previous visits, as if somehow it had expanded to fit the need of those around it. Armored Cores are in various states of disarray, and crews where the blue jumpsuits of the ship staff are accompanied by the usual uniformed Raven's Nest crews. The current reports were estimating a month before things are back to normal, and for now that means that everyone is putting in overtime.

Everyone, including an exhausted looking Sinya who is seated in an office chair at one end of the hangar, near a table filled with reports, repair logs, inventories, and other paperwork. Her body is tipped forward, arms supporting her head, chest slowly rising and falling as she sleeps. Passed out more than likely. There is a cup of coffee nearby, which still has some steam rising off of it, so she couldn't have been asleep too long. Still, even with her eyes closed, the catgirl is muttering to herself. "Wrong way... No. Bad mech, stop breaking..." Ahh the dreams of the sleep deprived.

Not that this ship was the only busy spot. Between clearing debris, tending to the not-so-obvious chaos the atacks have stirred up... It's been busy for everyone.

Well... almost everyone it seems. Big man, rust red coverals that seemed to only have a token layer of grime compared to those that were often times head first and up to their ankles in machinery. He had a somewhat fattish folder under one arm, and a thermos under the other. Other than dodging traffic what was he doing here?

The catgirl's tail twitches, oblivious to Edward's presence, at least at first. Then, her head bolts upright and she seems to call something out, obviously still asleep. "You've got that part in the wrong way, Wilson." Nearby, a worker pauses, looking down at a part he had been installing, and then grins. "Sorry about that, Miss Leland. Thanks for the catch." The Nest worker was obviously not used to working on things other than Armored Cores. However, with everyone working, no one seems to notice that she somehow was able to sleep-correct someone she couldn't even /see/. Just lucky timing?

Her head is just about to sink back down onto the table when the sound of an engine revving up nearby causes her to jolt, and real wakefulness to come back to her eyes. "Huh?" Groaning, the catgirl rubs her head and then blinks, only to see an overall-wearing Edward in her line of vision. "Okay, still dreaming." She tells herself, and then grabs for the cup of coffee.

Ahh, apparently Ed had caught the head mechanic on a coffee break. Before she had a chance to get more than a sip he'd shook his thermouse under her nose before uncapping it. "I took the liberty of bringing fresh." He had to make do with what he could for seating, but that was something he'd grown used to over the years... what with being freakishly tall and whatnot.

"Look I know you're good but.... you were handing out corrections, litterally, in your sleep." Beat. "And they were Right. You're starting to scare me."

At first, Sinya stares half-sleepy-eyed into her cup of coffee, but then her nose twitches. As if she had been teased by something flitting across her vision, she looks up towards the thermos. All too quickly, she downs the last of the previous cup and holds it out to him. "If all my dreams contained cute men bringing me coffee, I might actually sleep more often." She muses, although it seems as if she is starting to wake up a little. Her other arm stretches out over her head as the catgirl gives a tired yawn, her tongue curling kittenishly in the process.

"Hrm?" She blinks, green eyes still tired as she head-tilts towards Edward. "Huh?" She squints, and then looks over towards Wilson, then back again towards Edward. "I was probably still awake a little." With a shrug, Sinya dismisses it off-hand. So far, she hadn't actually made much progress in bonding with the spirit of the battleship, although that didn't mean that the SuiKyosha wasn't trying. "So, what are you doing here, Edward? And what's with the overalls?" She asks.

"It's more comfortable to wear these when I'm strapped into Tengu armor than my usual fare." The big man poured. Black, a little suger, traces of cream and a few other flavors at the edges. "Figure I might's well be useful and I've been helping de-clutter while people who actually know what they're doing start fixing stuff." He shrugged with his other arm. "Plus I figured it would be kindof insulting to walze in the middle of all this spotless and gleaming."

"Mmm." Just what Sinya thinks about such things has to wait for a moment as she savors the flavor of the coffee, taking a quick sip and seeming to ignore the heat for a moment. The fact is, she's running on empty - and sooner or later her body will probably just give out and she'll have to sleep. However, she's won't stop until that happens. "Well, I've just been up my ears in mechs and machines that need repairs. About the only good thing about all this is that my salary has doubled, plus overtime." Not that money had really been an issue since she took the contract to work at the Raven's Nest, but she couldn't let others know she was doing this mostly out of enjoyment and selfless willingness to help. "I haven't gotten out of the hangar in a few days. Mind giving me a run down on how things are going landside?"

"More of the same. Cleanup, try salvaging what can be salvaged, and then there's the day to day stuff that doens't quit for a piddly little thing like your home almost getting blown up." Ed's mouth quirked at that. The nesters were a resilliant sort. "I had wanted your take on something. Just hadn't known when to catch a moment with you since you've been... occupied."

"Occupied." Sinya smirks, "That's a word for it. I probably would have been here to fight for the 'Nest if it weren't for... well, contracts keeping me busy." The truth was, Sinya considered herself a freedom fighter in some ways, and she'd been doing her best to covertly support the efforts of Bahram and the Martian liberation forces. With a sigh, she runs a hand through her hair, obviously a little overwhelmed by the damage done while she was gone. "My take on something?" She swollows another drink of the coffee and then looks up. "Edward, you know if you need to talk, you can always radio me. I'm never too busy for you."

While Ed had a rough idea of where most of the Gian lady's contracts were he wouldn't bring them up if she wasn't. Not that he was against Martian Independance or anything. Without a word he passed Sinya a sheet of paper from the folder. It was a sketch depecting a heavily armored suit, roughly gorilla proportioned, and at least halfway embedded in rock.

As way of offering an explaination the big man sighed, "Nobody would allow pictures.. Closest I could come was making a rough sketch off of memory of one."

Only recently had she started being more secretive about her activities, mostly due to being quite well connected with Earth-side companies as well as the Trailer Defense Fleet. Still, she hated keeping secrets, and she is gaining more and more as time goes on. Leaning forward, the catgirl's ears perk as she looks at the sketch, squinting at it. "A mech?" She asks, tapping at part of the drawing. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"Whole story would take awhile." Understatement of the Neo-Century there if one were to look at the character notes housed beyond the Fourth Wall. "Short version though is I've been chasing different thigns down and found a mining outfit onfic island that'd supposedly found something. Was kinda hoping the design looked familiar." Looking at Edward's face it would be easy to see that there was more to the story. Then again one does not hold a foulde rjust for the sake of one picture. So there's more than just intuition/instinct/whatever to go by on guessing there's more.

"Probably a lifetime." Over time, Sinya had comt to her own understanding of the strange flashes that Edward had, and her decision borders on the supernatural. Then again, she'd seen far stranger things in her lifetime, especially if you tried to understand the science behind Gunmen or Gaean floatstones. She takes another look at the sketch, tilting her head right and left before shaking her head. "I'm afraid there isn't much I can make out just from a drawing. Even the sketches I make don't really let you understand much about the underlying structure of a machine." She taps her claw onto the table, hrming to herself as she looks towards his face, looking a little ashamed that she doesn't have more to offer. "It's not a guymelef, or any modern design I've seen before."

"I'm guessing you're looking for something La Gian." She hesitates, and then bites at her lower lip thoughtfully, tail twitching. "Have you tried asking the Captain? He and Zhi Wu have seen more of La Gias than I have. They might have seen something like it." Drawing her hand back, the catgirl sits up, taking another drink of the coffee. "What's got your interest so piqued?"

This prompted Edward to hand over a stack of stapled together papers. A skim, if Sinya were to look, would show all sorts of geological tidbits, surrounding rockand sediment within a three meter radius of the 'anomali' being of complete different composition than the 'naitive' rock. Several possibly collapsed tunnels that it could have fit through. Interesting enough there's an odd and very obscure sort of radiation signature that, when used against current dating methods, would put this suit at roughly the same age as Edward himself.

One would have to read to get all that, and having papers shoved at you by someone isn't all that condusive to reading.

"The guy that owns the company is very Crusader symmpathetic... I fear he means to sell it to them."

No, having paper shoved under her quite-tired nose isn't really condusive to reading, or understanding. Still, Sinya pages through the texts, not quite following everything. Afterall, she's a mechanic, not a geologist. "I'm afraid I can't make heads or tails of this, Edward." She murmurs with resignation in her voice. "The rock isn't right for this area, that's about all I'm getting from it." Rubbing at her temples, Sinya seems to wince at something, although the momentary twinge in her face passes quickly. As the word 'Crusader' gets mentioned, she can't help but look up, ears lifting slightly.

"So... you need someone will pull in the Crusaders?" She asks, sounding almost hesitant as she reaches over, pulling one of the small datapads towards her. As she looks down at it, there is just a moment where she seems to mull over if this is the right thing to do or not. She /should/ just give Ascian the information her family had passed on to her, but something had kept her from doing so. Maybe it would help Edward, though? "There's a Crusader... Ascian Luddite. He's been looking for his sister since she disappeared months ago, just before the Balmarians attacked." She pauses, then slides the datapad towards Edward.

Displayed on the screen is an e-mail from Mirriam Leland, probably some relation to Sinya, obviously. It outlines a downed Orbital Frame that the salvagers had planned on picking up, but the A-Laws had taken it before they had time to arrange transport. Included are a few shaky, out of focus pictures that seem to be of the original unit, probably taken in haste before the A-Laws arrived. At the end of the mail is a set of coordinates where the unit was taken - something the writer seemed to think was important.

"He'd be willing to trade anything for information that might help him find his sister, dead or alive." She notes with a somber tone to her voice. It almost sounds as if the catgirl is sure that the pilot could not have survived such a crash as shown in the photographs. "I'm sure he could manage to get enough pull to keep the Crusaders from buying it out from under you..."

While he hadn't really considered Sinya having enough string to pull to get the Crusaders to back off he sifted through the possabilities this data sheet offered. "Not quite what I had in mind. Was hoping R could pull a little so I could get a look at the suit itself, take pictures and the like... But this'll work better." Yea, given how R is insanely busy right now and whatnot. "Plus Divada hasn't been responding to my requests recently so there kinda went my best shot at getting any idea what they had planned." He sighed. "If this turns out to be what I think it is it'll cost a damned fortune.... and I'd pay it in a heartbeat."

"Take it then. I've got Ascian's contact information in the file anyways." Sinya seems resigned now that the information is out of her hands. "I just never had the heart to show it to him. It probably means his sister is..." She doesn't complete the thought, drowning it out with another drink of coffee before letting her breath hiss out between her lips. "Anyways, it'll do you more good than me. You're pretty much my best friend out here, so you know I'd do anything I can for you." Her eyes look over him for a moment, almost searching. "Just... be careful. You've got that obsessive look in your eyes I've seen on plenty of pilots in my time. I'd rather not see you get killed over this thing. Especially because I'd probably have to engineer a casket, and that's not a job I'm looking forward to."