"I know man. I know..."
He said with a slight chuckle. If he got a credit for every time he was searching for a 10mm socket.

He glances around the area and looks for promising workspaces. Anything with a decent amount of somewhat useful shit. There might even be a gem hidden somewhere.

"Let's look around. gonna need some space for machining tools and some other equipment... oh and electricity would be cool."

He especially pays attention to shops with abandoned project. Sometimes a half decent project crashes due to lack of funding... Or skills.

"Fucker steals 'em,"  Corduroy grumbles further.

There's a lot of 'promising' workplaces, in that most of them aren't falling apart and fully half of them aren't full of junk.  A few dozen seem at the very least a little clean, probably because someone's built a roomba and let it loose in the room.  All of the rooms have electricity; all of them are about the same size, 10m by 10m.  There are some larger ones but those are almost all taken by the machinists, who've set up bunkbeds there.

((Go ahead and roll Craft if you want to find an abandoned project))

((10, 8, 6, 6, 4, 1 & 1
Clarity in Openness +10 craft
26+10+20= 56
float 1-1))

Arkady let's his intuition take the reigns. It isn't always easy to figure out what someone else was building, especially in Pandora bay with all the nut jobs with a few extra credits trying to create something... new. He still has trust in his abilities. He had seen some fucking weird contraptions... like engines running on ghost flesh and shit like that.

He walks a half kilometer down the hallways, checking each one.  Corduroy points some out occasionally but they're not what Arkady is looking for.  He knows there's something out there he can use.

Eventually he finds it.  It's an abandoned room, a bit bigger than the rest.  This one's different than the rest in one other important regard:  whoever had it last built a fume hood into the place, which already puts it a cut above the rest.

There's tools littering the floor, and a weird-looking contraption sitting on the center of the floor.  A spray of ancient, dried blood surrounds the machine in a perfect circle.  Without touching it Arkady can tell it's some kind of generator...

(( 1 maljoss Walk With A Merchants Eye ))

Arkady Inspects the machine, but avoids touching it just yet.
Takes another look around the workshop and then looks at Corduroy

"This is it. We'll take this shop."

He kneels in front of the machine to inspect it closer and says half in tought

"We are going to need doors installed. Really good doors. Why hasn't anyone paid attention to this?"

His eyes wander around the strange contraption, but he tries not to disturb anything just yet. It is a generator, but what does it run on? It's nothing conventional. Esoteric reactor? He's giggling with curiosity and his hand shake as he resists the urge to start working on it immediately.

"The blood?  You know, I think it's the blood,"  He says, pointing at the blood on the floor, "You know, that looks like it turned the last owner into a fine mist and strawberry jam?  That blood?  Better not touch it, boss..."

The more Arkady looks at it the more he realizes he's seen something similar before.  This is a smaller version of an essence shield, usually the kind found on Mercury-class transports.  It's been miniaturized, if he's any judge, to something roughly the size of a small backpack.  It's not bad work, either.  Whoever was designing this was very talented, albeit not talented enough, and now very dead.

((Craft: 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 2 & 2
Clarity in openness +10 craft
32+20+10=62))

"Ok. Lets not touch the machine yet. no'or the blood. We gotta get this place secure first."

Arkady looks around and sees if he could build some sort of a countermeasure so that the place wouldn't be taken in their absence. A set of doors armored and locked would be nice, but a turret would be awesome... This is his lair now. A place for him to do his tinkering whilst he's away from his ship.
He'd otherwise drag all this stuff to my ship, but I need to save space. Manufacturing prototypes happens here. Testing equipment and research takes place on the ship.
Besides. Getting a foothold here in Pandora bay might yield interesting contacts amongst other researchers.

"Why don't ya find something to paint a big red 'Arkady's Place' on the wall?"

There's nothing beyond a standard pair of swinging steel door, easily blocked but also pretty easily broken down.  He'd have to build whatever the hell he wants.  Most of the places he saw were similarly jury-rigged.

"Yeah, I can get some paint." Corduroy sucks on his teeth a bit, "Gimme around five, right Boss?" He gives Arky a weird little salute and scampers out.

There's a decent amount of junk around the area, though.  Arky's able to cobble together a half-decent sliding barricade, including a lock, complete with spring-loaded spikes if anyone tries to force it open.  Corduroy's not even back yet by the time he finishes- less a problem with Corduroy and more a bonus effect of his new powers.

He decides to wait around for a while for his man Corduroy to arrive. While he waits he inspects the machine a bit closer. He starts by throwing small objects at the device while he waits. Science bitch.

Corduroy takes a few more minutes to arrive.  He's able to figure out the properties of the device pretty quickly.  Anything that so much as comes within a foot of the generator is flattened like a water balloon hitting a wall.  Then- it bursts.  This includes metal and plastic, he doesn't try flesh.

Corduroy comes back with a small pot of paint and a brush.  "Hey, what've you found out?"

"Oh! put the paint by the door there" Arkady looks up to Corduroy and waves.

"Well I found out this is the second best thing ever!!! Or... well... at least the second best thing today." He says jokingly.

"It's an essence shield, Kinda like the ones we put on ships, but a lot smaller. Anything a foot away from that blows up."

He looks at the device and strokes his chin in tought.

"It seems the previous owner turned it on and blew it up instantly... Dumbass... We have to figure out how to turn it off without us blowing up."

"Wait, so, what's the best thing today, ay?" Corduroy asks as he peers at it. "... What the fuck, that sounds fucking great and useless at the same time.  Like, what's the goddamn point." He paces around it, stepping through the dried blood, "Could try just flinging shit at it until it busts the field, ay?  What about using a magnet or something to shut that shit off?"

"hey. You need to see the future value in that shit. That's a working prototype, and obviously the device it self isnt affected so it acts like it should be. Imagin' if we could boost the effect to a bigger radius and make it safe for use? Giving this shit to boarding crews? Bullets vaporize and opponents blow up on contact?! WE CAN DO SO MUCH WITH THIS!!"

He has almost a manic tone. He sees so much potential in this.

"But yeah. We gotta turn it off first... A magnet you say? like an EMP or some shit? Worth a shot at least."

He goes browsing on the tools and midst his digging, he remarks with a smirk.

"Oh, the best thing? I haven't found it yet, but I'm sure I'm gonna!"

"Yeah, sure, but... if it fucks up, it fucks up good, don't it?"  Corduory asks.  "Well, that, or an electromag, find the off switch and fuck with it?  Betcha it a in't plastic.  But ya know what I say.  Magnets fix eeeeeeeverything."

He shakes his head.

"Fuck, man, then it's the best thing you've seen today, flat, until something better comes around."

((Craft 70 to turn it off))

((9, 8, 8, 6, 6, 6 & 4
Clarity in openness +10 craft
36+20+10=66 vs 70 fails))

He fiddles with a magnet for some time, and even tries some radio frequencies with a hasty radio to see if he'd trigger a response... in vain. He swears in russian under his breath and kicks a screwdriver, laying on the floor in anger.

"Fucking shit."

"You okay, boss?"  Corduroy stands over the man as the radio continues to belt out some particularly awful showtunes, "Uh... could always get underneath it and burrow upwards?  I mean it's sitting on the floor just fine, right?"

This is probably a bad idea.  Arkady's already figured THAT much out; it's getting grounded by steel plate and the moment that's removed it'll become a perfect lozenge of exploding death, likely to pinball around the room and the Last Refuge.

"You need some booze or somethin?"

"Ehh shit. I could use a drink yeah. Lets put a fence or something around the thingy. I'll get back to it with some more inspiration. Whatever you do, don't try to move the plate under it."

He realizes it's dangerous as fuck, but also valuable as fuck. He'll get back to it eventually. The person who made it probably left behind some notes.

"We oughta move your equipment to my ship, But we are prolly gonna need some extra arms for that. We should get some lemons as well..."

"Sure enough," Corduroy says as he starts looking around the area, "Umm.  Need a crew, though, for that... don't know many stevedores nowadays... could go nip back down at the pub and ask.  They know me, right?"

There's a pile of books on the back corner, atop a rusty file cabinet.  One of them's a notebook.  Most of the other books are... disturbing ones, to say the least.  "ENGINEERING FOR DUMMIES", "THE BIG BOOK O ENGINEERING", and "ELECTRONICZ FOR KIDZ" stand out.

"I was thinking about the pub as well, hence the lemons." He winks

He grabs the dummy engineering manuals. They might have something in code or such. Pandora bay, borderline genius invention... and kids engineering books just don't add up to him.

"Let's go and get us some deck hands, huh?"

He'd dabble in the books later with time and drinks.

"Sure enough,"  Corduroy helps him close everything up.

The end up back at the pub.  Most of the same people are still there, so there's considerable surprise that Arkady's showing his face again.  A certain earth elemental rumbles as he enters the room, though their eyes slide over to Corduroy too.

Corduroy gives them all a grin- and Mr. Tyrolite the finger.

"Alright! lets try this again! I need a crew on my ship. I think we got off on the wrong foot here at first. So hear me out before we start a racket ok?"

He pulls a chair from a nearby table and sits down.

"My name is Arkady Dragomirov, I am the captain of the ship Bogatyr..."
He glances towards Mr.Tyrolite
"You might not heard of it because it is a brand new ship in the fleet. Mr. Corduroy here has accepted my offer, so I'm giving you the same offer as well. Shit, let's do it like this. I'm gonna hire you guys to move some shit from Mr. Corduroys wreck to my ship, and pay for that. If you are interested in more work, I'll interview and possibly hire you. Howbowdah?"

He takes a relaxed pose on his char but keeps an eye on the patrons.

"Mr. Corduroy. Would you like to add something?"

"The man's fucking legit."  Corduroy tells all of them, "And you all know my ship's toast.  I trust that this man, even if he's a fucking insano, will at least pay me like one.  Might as well, eh?  And I think now's a time to start talking about the forbidden shit."

"There's a reason it's forbidden."  Mr. Tyrolite growls.

"Yeah, and, fuck them for it.  The Last Refuge makes a lot of shit thanks to the stuff we grab even if Fleet doesn't like it.  How many times they say 'thanks' and then slap us on the wrist?  Fuck that." Mr. Corduroy looks all around, "I say it's time we unionize, boys."

"Oh you heard the man..." Even though Arkady doesn't really know what they're talking about.
"You get on board with me and you gonna get some interesting times ahead... Involving a decent amount of cash, Blyat! It's not gonna be easy tough, And certainly not safe, but with me you guys gonna go places the wrist slappin' motherfuckers ain't wanna let you go..."

He removes his hood and reveals his twilight caste sign, shining bright in the dim lit room.

"We gon' make history gentlemen, together! HA HA! SCIENCE SUKA'S!"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK me"

Mr. Tyrolite's voice breaks the room, stifling any cheers or nods or roars.  Everyone just looks at him, like a man who'd just found out he'd been hitting on the evil dictator's daughter.

If a rock could sweat...

"Uhhh..."

"You're fucked now buddy,"  One of the miners near him pats his shoulder.

"Question!" A transporter raises his hand, "Science?  I ain't no scientist, all those motherfuckers are always lyin' and makin' me pissed."

"How much we talking?" Another asks, big and burly, the skull of a Teodozjia hanging from his back.

"Fuck man, he's a Twilight!  Fucker can probably make gold!"

"What use is gold?  What about water?"

"FUCK what about wine?"

"UIHHHHHHHHHHHH..."

"Now now Mr. Tyrolite, Apology accepted. I'm a man who likes to forgive mistakes..."
He gives the elemental a smirk with with his eyes locked on those rubies.
"...once." He adds with weight.

He shifts his legs whilst sitting and addresses the rest of the patchwork posse.

"Some of you might have special talents that might prove useful later, some of you have brawn, and all of you can mine. That's a start. We gonna tap on some of the biggest markets around the refuge. Energy and defence. Once we get the research and manufacturing rollin' we gon' hit big. For that we need resorces, and resource aquisition is your strong suit."

He takes the bottle he took from the bartender and takes a sip, now clearly not hiding his opinion on the drink. "Water? Easy, though recycling it is more efficient."

"Make wine? who the fuck drinks wine? Drink vodka. I'm a solar russian, not Jesus for fucks sake. Besides Vodka Is cheaper and less easy to fuck up."