Welcome.

[Riga Finnelli]

Riga nodded softly, retreating herself to her bed. She wasn't sleepy in the least, but sleeping away the hours to save oxygen made the most sense. She'd just woken up from falling asleep; but maybe she'd sleep if they were laying down. "I'm not so sure about love at first sight; I'll go for attraction..." she couldn't help being reserved; she'd grown up being like that. "But I'm sure laying down is the first step in sleeping."

[Darius Jameson]

Darius went with her, but lay just below the bed so that they didn't have to worry about getting squashed in, while that had been enjoyable for "extra-curricular activities" it probably wouldn't be best for sleeping, shame Locust hadn't been designed for two sharing bedspace, he guessed that the command that had had it designed figured that no one would be with a Renegade, or would want them to be. He grinned at her comment, "Attraction and provocation then, we'll find out about love at some point I hope." And that was a very sincere hope, while it may have been his first time with someone since the augs, it wasn't simply that, he really wanted it to work out, maybe he could pull some strings or something. But those were thoughts for another time, what he needed to do now was get his head down and use as little oxygen as possible.

[Riga Finnelli]

Glancing down at him, a wide grin washed over Riga's face. Either he was making a point of the small sizes within Locust, or he was trying to be a gentleman. He looked so silly there alone on the floor all by himself; it must have been the latter of the two choices. He'd get cold very quickly on the steel floor, as it wasn't carpeted, nor heated. It'd get insufferably cold, especially with Locust testing everything. She couldn't even get the great beast to send 10% of the engine heat to the floor steels, that would get shut off and turned back on so frequently, it would be pointless. Hot-cold-hot-cold was worse than just straight cold; and harder to sleep through.

Plucking up her pillow and the down comforter off the bed, she slipped her form off the mattress, and let the pillow fall down onto Darius' head. Sure, she'd be colder - but, she couldn't just leave him alone down there. Riga relaxed herself down onto the floor before him, laying so her back was pressed against his stomach, her pillow propped near his chin - in case he wanted the back half. With a light faff of the comforter, it fell on them, moreso on him than her - but she was fine with that. She'd be warm enough beside him, and it wouldn't be the first time waking up on the floor for her.

"At some point, indeed...we have time." she replied, finally. She wasn't sure about where everything was supposed to be headed, but then again, this -was- her first voluntary relationship - if it was so labeled. "Don't mind me down here with you, hnn? Was I supposed to let you be down there by yourself?"

[Darius Jameson]

When she came down to be with him he smiled a little, and took a bit of the pillow, he didn't really mind cold or discomfort, but he wouldn't refuse what was offered. He arranged the comforter so that it was evenly spread over her a little more than him, he had his trousers on at least, she didn't have anything on. He put his arms round her gently, holding her close so she could have some of his warmth too. He spoke in a warm tone, quite different from the barking tone he usually used, "Don't mind at all, just didn't want to squash you up there, after all I'm the guest on this crate." He realised he'd used what was typical infantry speak for the suit and said, "No offence meant Locust." Ask any infanteer what they called the battlesuits and they would answer crates.

He said, "Well looks like you've got your original wish, when we get back to Mars you don't have to sleep on the couch." He chuckled remembering how they'd bickered from the second they'd set eyes on each other, admittedly her asking if the TBA was a dog's battlesuit hadn't set the tone well. Still they'd got through that now and he got the feeling it was a point of no return, they couldn't really go back to being just PO and Renegade, but what would they become? it was still too early to say so he'd just wait it out with her.

[Riga Finnelli]

It was a very odd sensation, having someone behind her, an arm draped across her. She wasn't used to having anyone around, let alone holding her like this. She's brought herself to him, and it wasn't an unwelcome person; she simply wasn't used to belonging to anyone. She wasn't an object to be owned, and she wasn't one to be told what to do; but in the simplest sense, in the most archaic and animalistic sense of reprduction, she was his. The whole "offspring" thing frankly scared her; as least they weren't married. Maybe she was over-thinking all this; they were after all only dating. Of all the species of creatures on earth that mate for life, humans were the only ones who copulated based on a temporary label, and "broke up" when something went wrong. Eagles mate for life on earth, and you never saw the female leaving with the chicks because the male brought home to little of food, or was out too long with his male eagle buddies once too often.

Riga shoved her thoughts away, and relaxed herself in the half-cold-half-lovely little snuggle they'd fell into on the floor. "Neither do you, I would have snagged the bed before you even got there." she grinned, laughing softly at the mental image that popped into her head. Locust's engines sputtered on, part by part, as his field of testing narrowed to main systems. "Environmental controls are offline," came the over sexed programmed voice that Riga had installed. "Please bear with the temperature rises and drops."

[Darius Jameson]

Darius had thoughts of his own rushing through his head, of a positive nature for a change. Yes the floor was cold under him but she was warm next to him, he didn't think of her in terms of belonging to him, no, he thought of Riga in terms of being with him. He wondered a little about the future, how long they could carry this on, he guessed it was dating in a sense, he also had a tiny gnawing feeling of dread that when it was found out the powers that be would try everything to stop them. He wasn't thinking towards children or anything like that, it was far too soon to consider it but at least for the moment they had each other.

He chuckled a little too, "What makes you think you'd have kept it if you had?" A little challenge was in his voice, but a friendly one rather than the gruff and aggressive tone he'd had before all this had happened. As the enviromental controls went offline Darius shrugged a little, if she got too cold he'd keep her warm.

[Riga Finnelli]

Riga was a far simpler woman than she'd ever let people believe; everything she did was simple. Kill the guy on the hit list, take proof to the government, get the next hit, sleep, eat something, kill the guy on the hit list. That was her life; up till now. Now, a whole new machine was added to the system; something to upset the works. But was that a bad thing? Only time would tell.

Her response would usually have been something witty, snippy, or something maybe a little sexual; but, she couldn't say a word at the moment, and hadn't even been aware that he'd said anything - Riga had fallen asleep.

"Captain. Code Virii located in the navigational array, weapons, and has reprogrammed the AI's emotional cortex subroutines. I must apologize in advance for any action based on corruption and any action I have placed before. Permission to delete subroutines in navigation, weapons, and the AI? I will not be able to fight, fly myself, or compute emotion."

[Darius Jameson]

Listening to the battlesuit's words Darius was a little concerned he didn't want to do anything to this battlesuit without Riga knowing so he gave the sleeping woman a gentle shake, waking her. He said softly, "The battlesuit wants to delete a lot of important systems which would prevent it from working on automatic. It wants permission and I wanted you to be aware before anything is done." He spoke to the battlesuit, "What would be reversable and non-reversable of the systems deleted. Also would the ship be pilotable in the condition it would be in?" Fairly simple questions which should get fairly straightforward answers, it was Riga's response that would have to be carefully judged since she was fairly attached to the craft.

[Riga Finnelli]

Still asleep, Riga muttered a faint 'Yeah whatever' into her arm as she rolled over, nesting herself against Darius, as if he were a rather large teddy bear. Falling asleep when oxygen was running low was not likely the smartest thing to do, but at least she'd die quietly and happily, instead of in the bloodied mess that she'd expected to die in. Whichever was better, she'd never make up her mind.

"Affirmative. Deleting systems now." replied Locust. He knew as well as Darius did that her response wasn't a response at all; but at least he could hide behind the excuse that he didn't. "Captain Jameson, report to navigational array immediately. I am flying towards a star. ETA year 2432."

(Just do something fun or sommat, iunno.)

[Darius Jameson]

Shit thought Darius, the computer, knowing full well it wasn't a real response had gone ahead and deleted the systems, either it was more stupid than it had been designed to be, or they'd given it a beaurecrat for an AI, hiding behind anything to avoid getting caught with the blame. Darius gritted his teeth, he was in for a rough time. Like all of those who became part of a special unit he was trained to handle most common vehicles, both interplanitary and ground. He'd even controlled a battlesuit a couple of times just so that he knew how they handled, but this one was more complex, and he'd never had to handle one without most of its navigational systems.

He sat down at the control console and took hold of the manual override, a joystick with a few functions on it, he used the visual relays rather than a scanner to get his bearings, space flight and navigation had been included in his training, he got earth set in his sights and then turned about to find Mars. The red planet, being closest was the easiest to spot and he began going through the various sequences needed to find his way to the domes and get in. It wouldn't be fun for him but he'd need all his concentration. He began to maneuver closer, spotting the domes and accelerating towards them a little, just enough to actually get them there, but not plough through. His breathing was steady, his eyes focussed on the screen as he navigated slowly towards the entrance for battlesuits and smaller military craft.