The Robot learned fast... faster than Dhanyl anticipated and he soon lost his first Expansion, not a major setback, but the screeching that his dying Units produced bothered him nonetheless.

The Swarm was strong though and Dhanyls constant attacks slowly wore down Tainted's defences... 

"Not enough Vespene gas"... 

of course...

Whilst waiting for a response from Laudmas on the status of TNY_FAF_101, Valorum notices Zeroes approach. The flickering pattern across his body that appeared in his heated discussion with Decius had slowly died down in brightness as time went on, but the appearance of the Automaton causes it to brighten faintly as Valorum tersely asks:

"Something requires my attention, Zeroes?"

The sower was unsure to answer, not because of it not knowing what it should say, but it actually way unsure what it really thought about this "games"
<I felt satisfaction, or maybe approval. I had similar results when I successfully finished tasks. But I was not able to achieve victory ... still.>
Before it started to think too much, it stopped itself, playing a game was abnormal enough for a normal sower , enjoying it would be too much, probably the result of its Dust-infected mind.

"Data about Games gathered, This Unit is available for same or other tasks until ground team is ready to land"

Laudmas waited keenly for a response from HQ. He still remembered what happened quite clearly. At first everything was calm. Data from probe FAF was flowing in beautifully. The live-feed displayed a gorgeous mountain scene. Then the ground trembled, a roar went up, and a gigantic  worm popped out. At first the situation seemed humorous, until there was another roar and the live-feed cut to black. The probe was worm-food; there was no doubt about that.

The robot was bewildered for a second. Suddenly, Dhanyl’s sudden voice put him  back into place. Apparently he too was watching the data, at first the robot was curious at why the Sophon disobeyed then he remembered that SBT probe wasn’t bound to arrive for at least half an hour. Good of Dhanyl to do some extra work the robot thought.

“Well Dhanyl, a wise man said to me before: Stuff happens. A less polite person would have used a less pleasant expression.”

Suddenly a jingle went up. It was the Captain, Laudmas supposed he wanted confirmation on what happened. Quite honestly, the robot had no idea how to respond without sounding silly.

“Captain, it is true. We have indeed lost Probe FAF to hostile flora. To be a bit more precise, giant snow worms that is estimated to be around 1 kilometre in length. However there are some good news. Before the probe was destroyed, we discovered plenty of life. There are plenty of insect and fungoid life on the planet. What makes that interesting is that insect and fungoid life do not usually and naturally grow on arctic climates without the help of other entities. There’s probably a good chance that an artificial force have interfered.”

Before Laudmas could have go on about the strange life-forms of Tanye ll, he was nudged in the back by none other than Liam. He wanted the robot to finish a bot that he himself drew up. “Liam being lazy again,” the Laudmas thought to himself. After a brief conversation (one where Liam tried his best at persuading someone) the robot accepted the proposal after realising that had nothing better to do; especially after FAF became worm-food.

The robot took the heavy pile of machinery while also reminding Liam that he owed him a favour. Liam simply responded with: “As long as I don’t need to do any dirty acts, it’s all AOK.”   

Laudmas shook hands and hurried off back to his personal room. The parts were dumped on the work-table and the the blueprints was installed on it; which then materialised as a hologram. 

To start with, the title was apparently “Floaty Tooty Life Distribution” before it was crossed out and replaced with “Floating Tool : Life Distribution”. There was a small set of words located right next to it, which Laudmas make out as “Because we all have to be professional.” The robot was quite humoured that his old friend would have thought of that name first. A millisecond later, he realised the initials stood for FTLD. That snake, playing with puns again.

After studying the blueprint, the robot immediately set to work. The designs were intricate but the summary of the bot could have been shortened to two words: “Healing Bot”. Although he tried to stay true to the blueprints, Laudmas was much better at improvising rather than following orders. For example, the bot was at first designed to be spherical but Laudmas instead opted to use a special X-styled chassis that he brought along. Because of this, the propulsion system was swapped. Instead of a Miniature-Jet Repulsion Engine (MJRE), an enhanced Compact Graviton-Modulator was used (CPM). 

After some well-dedicated time, the new chassis was finished. Now the fun part was to be done. The main part of the bot was to be located in the centre. It was a split between a engine core and a part of a healing beam system. It was quite ingenious. Dust would be split and filtered so that only a small layer would be used. This would be then projected onto the subject which would hopefully heal it. Basically, it was a laser that heals. The excess heat recovered from the system would be released as steam which could be used to help with movement. 

Now the tools were to be inserted. The X-Styled chassis was very useful for this. Due to the nature of its shape, tools could be constructed and swapped at will with great efficiency.  The first was a filtering and collection tool. Liquid would be inserted into a tube which would then be stored or perhaps purified if instructed to. The second was simply just an extra container (albeit larger). The third was something less orthodox for a healing bot. The third was listed as a tool except that it was much better at being a weapon. To disguise it, parts of it was edited so that it appeared to be as a mining laser. After some tinkering, Laudmas allowed the “mining laser” to also switch location with the “healing beam”. This would allow the “mining laser” to be fired at greater intensity. Now the last one was simply left untouched. It was a spare space for a stranger tool. Judging from the blueprints, Laudmas was amused at what it would be.

To finalise the bot, the AI core Liam specifically made for the bot was installed. With that the power button was turned on and the bot floated to life. For it, Laudmas would have been the first person it would have seen. The robot smiled. Creating life was something to get excited about.

He then carried the bot back to the hangar, hoping to surprise Liam with it.

(( Just a notice to anyone that's curious. Me and Bagel usually work on posts together. In this case, the idea behind the bot should be attributed to him while I "created" X-Styled chassis. if anyone is curious about it's shape, I posted a picture of reference in recruitment. )) 

Frame bowed deeply in response.

(Clearly still upset, tread lightly.)

"My apologies Captain, but I had a request to make of you."

Frame straightened as Zeros continued.

"I noticed that the away team you constructed seems to be lacking a member of the Engineering detail, I wish to put my name forward for consideration."

Zeros continued to elaborate as Frame crossed its left arm over its central chassis, and rested the elbow of its right arm into the palm of the left hand, gesturing slightly as it spoke.

"I believe I would be  able to contribute a valuable skill set to the away team. I would be able to address any unexpected technical malfunctions, as well as possibly recover any data salvagable from damaged probes or ruins. In addition, should we encounter native alien life forms or ancient data streams, my linguistic translation abilities would be useful."

Frame ended with another bow, left arm behind its back, right arm in front. Then stood at attention.

"That is all I had to say."

Valorum brings up his list from before and stares at it for a few long moments, thinking. Soon after, he muses aloud:

"...barring a loss of communication, that could work....but having two medical officers planetside isn't a good idea anyway...very well. You will come along on this mission, and Liam Cantari will stay behind to compensate for  Laudmas' absence."

Valorum edits the final team composition and gives it one last once-over.

Pilot:

Ajandek Ylona

Security Detail:

Valorum

Rolak Ven'Vitto

Chidi Tehik

Research and Logistics:

Dhanyl Abhama

Laudmas Acromb

7-1-4-N-7-3-D

Zeroes

Satisfied, Valorum sends each member of the team a wireless message; no matter what interface receives it, be it a wireless communicator or some mechanical anatomy, everyone on that list knows to meet in the shuttle bay in 15 minutes and to be prepared for planetary exploration. Once the deed was done, Valorum looks back at Zeroes and asks:

"Now, before we leave, there was something else you needed to discuss with me?"

"Okay, we're in orbit", Ylona announced happily, pushing herself out of her seat. It was not a difficult achievement to bring a ship into stable orbit around a planet, but she nonetheless enjoyed tinkering with trajectories. Seeing that at more or less the same moment Valorum had sent a message to every crew member of the away team, she decided to add some info on her own. On every communicator belonging to an away team member, the follow-up message turns up: "That's 15 minutes sharp. The launch window closes in 17 minutes 32 seconds, and anyone not ready at that point gets left behind. Ylona."

"If you excuse me, Captain, I have to get my gear", she announced while already on her way to the door, "You have the conn."

It was a quick trip to the armory, where she then asked for her equipment to be handed out. The security officer staffing the place quickly came back with her weapon and what appeared on first glance to be a mess of telescoping rods. "One Bolt Caster and one mobility rig, custom made", he reads off the receipt while handing it over, and Ylona quickly confirmed with a signature. It was more security than she was used from hauling cargo, but she understood why it was there. Out in unknown space, you had to know where every single weapon was, in case somebody snuck on board and wanted to use them against you.

The security officer stared a bit when Ylona proceeded to strip down to her underwear right in front of him, then grabbed the tangle of struts that she had listed as mobility rig, and started to unfold it. It wasn't until she had slipped it on halfway that one could make out what exactly it was and what it was for. Strapped against her body in several places, most notably with a padded breastplate pressing against her torso, the telescoping rails supported her limbs and had at the joints of her body had what apparead to be servos, leaving her with full moblity.

Once she had slipped her hands into the attaches gloves, the Vaulter then put on her clothes again, leaving the rig hidden beneath the cloth. Then, she picked up the Bolt Caster, and somebody with good ears might have heard the faint whirr of servos as under her clothes, the electronics reacted to the weapon she held. In a maneuver that to bystanders would look painful and useless, she slammed the butt of her weapon against her shoulder with considerable force, and then nodded approvingly.

After adding a quiver of munition to her belt, she proceeded to the crew quarters, where she opened her locker and retrieved a tick hood and a balaclava that she added to to her outfit, as well as changing into slightly warmer pants. This was a cold planet, even for Vaulter standards. As a last afterthought, she took out what looked like metal soles and kneepads and added them to her outfit, once again with the rig beneath her clothes whirring slightly in acknowledgement of the new additions.

Thus fully geared, she went down to the shuttle bay and did a walkaround to check that the craft was okay, while also out of the corner of her eyes counting the crew members that had already gathered here.

((With all those overly long descriptions going about, I thought I'd indulge myself a bit, too.))

 Liam turned around to see Laudmas, a smirk grew on his face. 

"Wonderful! I see you changed things up a bit. Just like you do, will do, and already do! I guess it's better to test it here than on Tanye." 

He showed the bot a cut on his skin and it immediately prepared and fired a light green beam along the cut, regenerating the skin within seconds. "Hahahahahaha! It works! It actually works! I wonder if it can fix a lost arm...hopefully before the wildlife will take the other! I guess i'll test the 'mining beam' later." He held it in his hands for a second, then he quickly put it under his arm and walked to the armoury. Liam then found a small case. He set the bot down and opened it. Inside was a simple gun crafted with bits and pieces of metal then and there. He set it in his pocket, picked up the bot and started walking to the hangar.

On his way there he heard a small ring, signalling an update. He looked at the departure list, he was removed, of course, he took out the small gun and walked back to the armoury, put it in its case and shut it. He muttered, "I guess it'll have to wait longer to use this again." He looked at the bot Laudmas helped made, "And this, too."

He walked back to his room, shut the door, and put the bot on the table, and then he sat down on the bed. Thinking to himself, "Oh yeah, there's the Craver, I’d like to meet him, that is if I could go out of my room for more than 2 seconds."

He slowly examined the bot one more time and found a function Laudmas 'forgot' to build.

He reworked the bot carefully and barely fit in the last function. He slowly pulled up a screen, saved a few things and uploaded it into the bot's memory. He then proceeded to turn a dial and pressed a small triangle button. Which then proceeded to play the first of the things on the list. Loud screeching filled the room as he laughed. "I can't believe Laudmas wouldn't put in the music player!"

((for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8iiZxVwIa8 ))

Valorum nods his approval to Ylona as she dismisses herself. Faceless though he may be, Valorum's reaction to Zeroes is clear; a slight, sideways tilt of his head to show curiosity.

"You don't jest? It seems my crew doesn't lack for intrigue...nobody will hear of this from me, but in any case, we do have a mission to prepare for. You are dismissed."

With a look at Angela, who is assumedly still smoking in the corner of the bridge, Valorum orders:

"Sister Skeler, in the absence of Ylona and myself, you have the conn. Matters of defence will fall to Brother Decius, and science and medicine will be managed by Brother Cantari. Keep the Saviour ready in case of an emergency, planetside or otherwise, and contact me if any issues arise."

With that, Valorum exits the bridge to prepare for the upcoming mission.

-----

It actually took the captain all of 10 minutes to make it to the shuttle-bay. After a brief stop at the armoury to recover his plasma cannon and its power cells, Valorum then entered his room to...probably pray? Nobody knows for sure. When he arrives in the shuttle-bay 5 minutes prior to the launch, though, he looks like a completely different person. Whilst his glaive is still firmly in his grasp and his briefcase is held by his side, Valorum's normal cape has been replaced by a jet-black cloak; knee-length and with an accompanying hood that currently sat unused on his shoulders. The sheath for his blade can be seen poking out from behind his shoulders, through a narrow slit in the back of his cloak, and his plasma cannon was mounted sideways on his lower back in its 'compressed' form, where its barrel and stock are telescoped back into the body of the gun.

To make matters stranger, a gauntlet now armours Valorum's right forearm, its fingers elongating into sharp, triangular talons. It doesn't look like a practical part of any set of armour, but from the markings on it, it seems to have some purpose. For another thing, a helmet of some kind is tucked under the arm with which he holds his briefcase. The helmet's V-shaped visor was bisected by a single vertical line, making it cut such an imposing look, so much so that one could only imagine the emotions it would inspire with the fiery glow of a Vodyani's Essence shining through it.

Looking around the hanger and seeing the last of the equipment being loaded up, Valorum nods his approval, notices Laudmas, and approaches his colleague.

"Brother Laudmas! I take it all the necessary provisions and equipment have been loaded onto the shuttle?"

((Might as well have my own super long description.))

Compressing and sheathing his glaive, Valorum shakes Laudmas' hand and accepts the tablet, examining the drone's blueprints. After a brief run-over of its functions, Valorum nods his approval.

"It's good to see you're thinking ahead, Brother. I've seen firsthand how messy organic wounds can get; the faster and easier they can be healed, the better."

Returning the tablet to his chief scientist, Valorum stepped forward to examine the shuttle. It was a small ship of Pilgrim craft, vaguely mimicking the Saviour's own Vindicator-class design; it's long, rectangular human hull made up most of the inner body of the ship, nestled inside an incomplete shell of organic, white plating. Said Sophon construction started at the bow of the ship in the form of a curved, blunt bow that tapered up and back overtop of the human hull like a helmet. Four flight wings with hollow graviton repulsor rings served as the vessel's method of lift and steering, and there were two on each side of the vessel's 'helmet'; one at the very back and the other halfway to the front. Two sublight engines protruded out of the back for propulsion, and the the uncovered sides of the vessel's human design each had sliding doors to exit and enter through. It was functionally similar to a military-grade dropship, and could hold about 10 passengers and a single pilot.

Valorum ran his free hand along the side of the shuttle, looking up and along its hull until he slowly came to a stop, asking aloud:

"Has this shuttle been christened with a name yet?"