A unique wreckage noted by a client leads Runo to find little in the way of salvage, though offers more in curiosity and knowledge. A part of the Celestial Runo couldn't immediately recognize and could only theorize about from the few scraps of data he could glean.
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And so the story continues, slow up until now but most of the exposition and setup is done, following this the plot will finally begin to pick up with events and interactions with others! Probably should've proof-read this considering how late it is but it's probably fiiine... still, Feedback Welcome!

First: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/63003553/
Previous: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/63851688/
Next:
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Chapter # Discrepancy
After final preparations, Runo glanced over his person, going through a quick checklist. Rations, water, powecells, bags, and equipment. Running a hand over his belt of an ever growing arsenal of tools, it rested over the recovery scanner he had managed to purchase from a plaza merchant, in exchange for the credits gained by his big sale yesterday, with even enough left over for safety goggles, determined to finally use his laser cutter with accuracy this time around.

He picked up the recovery scanner and flipped out the small display, trying to familiarise himself with the controls and layout of the tool. It seemed to be rather intuitive in design with both software and hardware working together well, though upon scanning a few scraps he had left over from past recovery expeditions it seemed to give little more than confirmation of their origins within the Celestial, alongside a few material identifiers, age and damage estimates and a set of codes. It was all fairly basic analysis Runo could extrapolate himself save for whatever the codes meant, he could only hope a client would be able to make better sense of them and see value in them, lest he had wasted credits on the device.

With a small huff, he reattached it to his belt and with a final check, set out bearing westbound, the light of Refnu bearing down upon the landscape, reflecting harshly off the icy surfaces below, dazzling and forcing Runo to keep his gaze slightly lowered for the long hike ahead. The frost crunched beneath his talons as step after step, steadfast he continued, occasionally glancing around for any sign of the site he had been tipped off about, with little luck. Time moved by yet the air remained still and silent, light had passed its apex and was starting to fade, Runo double checked he had packed a sleeping bag before continuing on, and eventually he saw a shadow up ahead, a structure blocking light, the wreckage the client was interested in.

With the target in sight, he quickened his pace striding along with his eyes pre-emptively scanning over the structure on approach, a glint of anticipation in his eyes. As before, he decided to start around the perimeter of the site, looking for any scattered resources or supplies, though it seemed the hull had managed to contain all but a few loose crossbeams and wires. As Runo continued to survey the area, he noticed the impact crater that had been left, with a small trench carved out of the ground trailing from the back, suggesting an eastward trajectory. He committed the observation to memory, unsure of how much detail the client may be interested in, before unclipping his recovery scanner.

Tilting his head slightly, he looked over the hulking hull before him, unfamiliar with how best to use it, before simply shrugging and tentatively holding the scanner up and running the projected lasers across the scorched metal. There were signs of breakages and tears, suggesting this may only be a part of a larger vessel, it was nothing surprising and Runo could only hope that the more technical codes and material composition would be of greater value. Interestingly, it noted parts of the hull were recycled metals, showing less internal density than the surrounding metals, which seemed off for a flagship such as Celestial…

With the initial scan out of the way, he donned his wielding goggles and unclipped his laser cutter as he approached a jammed doorframe. Carefully he brought the tip of the laser cutter to the surface and began to cut, instinctively closing his eyes and facing away initially, before cautiously turning to face the blinding sparks, eyes still squinted from habit, and found he was able to finally see what he was doing. Bolstering his confidence slightly, he was able to finish the cut much quicker and leave a smooth edge on the surface, before pushing down the loose fragment into the interior, following shortly after.

Eyes scanned over the various consoles and shattered displays, the compartment was clearly much more utilitarian, with less lockers and tools to be salvaged. Interestingly, the interior didn’t seem to bear the same smooth finish Runo was familiar with from his recollection of the Celestial, though perhaps this simply wasn’t an area for colonists, and more for engineers and maintenance workers. Curiously the avian stepped forward, approaching the central console, before crouching down by the access panel. The metal had deformed slightly, but it was nothing a firm pull couldn’t resolve, and peering into the internals his eyes widened. A wide array of different components, boards, cables and wires greeted him, far more complex than anything he had seen before.

Reaching in hesitantly, all he could think of to do was try to carefully disconnect what he could and hope they held value, as unlikely as it was with the sustained damage. Then again, it occurred to him that could work in his favour, there was no need to be so careful if it was broken to hell already, and so his movements quickened, reaching and exploring with more determination and insistence. It wasn’t long before a datachip fell from one of the components, clattering on the floor by Runo’s knees.

There was a slight pause before he brought it to his eyes, the chip itself looked almost pristine compared to the burnt and scarred components it came from. The avali rose to examine the rest of the terminals, hoping one might be functional enough to possibly read the chip, initial impressions weren’t looking good. Walking over, he inserted the chip into a console that seemed the least damaged, and for a moment he waited to no avail.

Of course, there was no power source anymore, though perhaps if he could find the right cables, he could connect a powercell from his bag and charge the internal capacitors enough for a quick boot. Prying off the panel, he found what appeared to be the two primary power delivery lines, and with his claws he cut through them, leaving enough slack for them to rest on the ground by his knees. From there, he took out a powercell, pressing one side against one wire and moving to connect the other to the opposite terminal. There was a moment of hesitation as it dawned upon him how dangerous this probably was, whether it would even work, though despite this he committed, after all a single powercell’s worth of power can’t be that bad…

There was silence for a while, the powercell began to discharge at a steady rate and after only about 5 minutes it had fully discharged, the rate suggesting more than just idle power consumption, hopefully charging internal capacitors. Runo rose and once again moved to activate the terminal, and the display before him lit up faintly.

### START /V.5.3/ NEXUS LOCAL ###
hwcheck init
hwverified
PwSM enabled
Fallback Ping sent
. . .
callback confirm
Host active
Wireless con est.
Drive detected
=============================
Horizon: Distance project
-Iteration 4
>blackbox
Logs
Manifest
Locations
Timeline
=============================
Intrigued, Runo moved to select the blackbox data, only to be greeted with a dying console, the capacitors within had discharged eliciting a disappointed huff from the avian as they retrieved the chip from the dormant machine. The fatigue of the expedition was beginning to make itself known, and so the avali walked back to his backpack and pulled out a sleeping bag, laying it over a few fabrics from home and laying over it, glancing towards a few cracks in the hull where the orange sunset crept through, ever fading as darkness set in. As Runo lay there, his mind wandered over the datachip, the console, what little he was able to gleam from it’s fleeting light.

A localised version of the nexus, some form of host and wireless connection… perhaps this was the drone bay of Celestial… There was no name he could remember given formally to Celestial’s mission, though the distance project would make sense… but what was Horizon…?
A chill ran down Runo’s spine as the icy twilight air crept in, shaking Runo from his thoughts. Finally he shifted to move into the sleeping bag below, and closed his eyes, there was more than enough to think about while he drifted away…