On a spaceship. Wandering through the vastness of the galaxy.
"I think I'm stupid"
Niko stared at the endless stream of goop that flooded out of the pipe. This was not normal.
He had been sent to the pipe room to fix the filtration systems, but it appeared he had set the pipes to filter out anything that wasn't water. His hands began to frantically click around the tablet selecting hundreds of different options.
As he sorted through the different options a repeated *BANG* was heard from the other side of the door.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
"Niko! Is everything alright?"
The voiced belonged to the ship engineer Sasha.
"It's been around 5 minutes but the water capsules still aren't working. What's going on?"
Niko wanted to respond in earnest but he understood fully that even just being late would get him punished. A mistake of this magnitude could have him sent to the clear room and he was not doing that again. Not ever.
"Uhh I'm just fixing something with my trousers. They tore open again." With that Niko had delayed Sasha's entry for another ten minutes.
"Eww... Half-breeds like you don't know how to be normal do they?"
"Is it the falina side of you that can't do anything right or your human half?" Sasha's verbal laceration cut deep. She had two talents, her deep understanding of robotics and her deep aptitude for creating auditory harm. but only one of those talents ever seemed to show up around Niko.
"I'm sorry okay, but how was I supposed to notice this extra sharp gear just lying around? I'm lucky it's just my trousers getting cut up, I could have died!"
Lying came naturally to Niko. It was one of his two talents that had allowed him to survive this far. His ability to web up incredible myths from nowhere and his unrivaled level of street-smarts. Despite barely having a formal education and not having seen his parents in a decade Niko could negotiate like no other.
"I should be almost done now." Niko stared at the floor which had slowly started to flood as he was searching through the tablet. The outsole of his shoes now had a new layer of slushy goop nonsense added to the mix. Not ideal.
As all of this had been going on Niko had still been navigating the tablet when eventually he landed on:
"Main pipe filtration" > "items" > "deselect all" > "water" > "begin filter"
The pipe began to return once again to a wonderful clear blue. Niko grabbed his hands onto the valve and span like his life depended on it. Stopping the pipe in it's tracks.
Now there was just one more problem to fix. The goop that had coated the floor.
"Listen, I need to make sure you haven't messed up anything in that room. It's important so hurry up."
Even from beyond the door Sasha's incessant moaning was all too disorienting.
Niko slowly made his way on all-fours and pressed the top of his head against the ground. His cat-ears which was the one thing he had inherited from his falina father quivered as he felt them brush against the ground.
He pushed his head against the ground and crawled with all his might. The halfbreed now turned human-mop rubbed his furry ears against the floor as they absorbed all the goop like a sponge.
By the time his head had become friendly with every crevice of the pipe room floor not even a single spec of dust was left. Niko, still in the plank position arched his back out preparing to stand up.
Which was just in time for Sasha
"Alright I'm coming in now!"
Sasha slammed open the door to Niko's new quadpedal position. Surprisingly she seemed unfazed.
"Probably a halfbreed thing."
Niko slowly transformed back into his bipedal position as Sasha rubbed her right-hand against the pipe. Sasha had augmented eyes meaning she could observe the smallest details and see through thin walls. Combined with her minor constellation it made her a very effective engineer.
"Wow."
She pushed Niko aside to tamper with the tablet.
"You actually did something right."
Niko pondered why Sasha would send him to do something incorrectly, unless she wanted him to be sent to the white room.
"Good job Niko."
Sasha awkwardly rubbed Niko's head.
Niko responded in a similarly awkward manner.
"Yeah... Thanks"
Niko held his hand out to return the favour by rubbing her head in kind. but Sasha darted back to the front door. Seemingly almost instantaneously in Niko's eyes. Was it possibly another augment that Niko was unaware of?
Sasha's brows furrowed as she cried out.
"Don't touch me."
"And don't forget you're still getting punished for wasting my time!"
Niko scratched his cat-ears as he tried to console her.
"Sorry... I'm sorry."
"Ok, just don't forget you're just a waiter here."
His official title was "ship management officer" but in reality he was more of a butler so Sasha was half-right. Regardless Niko had to be greatful, he had been travelling with them for a year now and they were his best shot at escaping poverty.
Niko had convinced the captain, Jack "of The" Blackhawk to let him join on the ship to do maintenance he had mostly stuck to tasks such as cooking and cleaning while also doing the occasional oddjob now and then. He was damn good at it as well.
The team had worked as low-tier mercenaries hunting down creatures and selling them to obtain enough profit for maintenance and gas money. Every now and then keeping some of the hunting delicacies for themselves, whivh Niko would prepare but rarely receive even a nibbles worth gor his hard work.
Naturally their constantly tired state meant that the only person who could keep them in-check was Niko. Routinely providing them with all the human maintenance one could need.
Suddenly the alarms began to blare
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
The captains voice echoed through the speakers.
"SASHA AND NIKO GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!"
"I think the captain might need us."
Sasha's astute observations never failed to impress.
Sasha beckoned Niko to follow after her as they began to head towards the command room. Niko begrudgingly followed after her. His shoulders slumped over. What could it be now?