Futuristic Uknown Crisis: Intermission

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Thanks for micromanaging my startle response," Finn drawled. "I'll be sure to work on that."

"Finn come pet this dog," Cathal said.

Finn went back into the kitchen.

"Oh well. I don't have to share," Cathal said.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

After that minor imbroglio, Miranda is relieved to see how much Zephyr relaxes into Cathal's embrace, their purring going a long way to easing the knot in her gut.

[Bit of a rough start to this whole venture, huh?] Altis texts.

[Eppie did say that everyone was 'a little wierd,' I guess we're just bumping up against that], Miranda text back. [Besides, we're the ones who brought a xenomorph, so it's not like we're without our quirks.]

"Well, Eppie, I don't think that leaves many who can still jump out at us: care to lead the way to the medbay and see if they're up to it?" Miranda asks.

Zephyr, sensing that they are about to move along, nuzzles Cathal a little before breaking away and trotting down the hall ahead of them before looking back and waiting on the three of them.

(Or possibly four, depending on Cathal's whimsy. Miranda isn't about to take bets.)

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Don't worry about Finn," Cathal said, following them to keep petting Zephyr whenever they paused long enough. "He pretends he's a jerk, but he's a big softy under it all. He just got surprised. He's never seen a doggy as big and handsome as you," he baby talked at Zephyr, petting him again. "No he hasn't! You're such a good dog! The best dog! Yes you are!"

 

[TrashRabbit]

When the medbay doors open Donny looked up from his corner he used as an office spotted the sisters and then Zyphyr. His eyes lingered on Zyphyr and he sighed, but to his credit he smiled. At least the were as described on the tin. He took a good hard look at the four of them, conceived the image as normal, and gestured at his holo screens.

"Hi I'm Donovan, your humble combat nurse and paper pusher; Welcome to NASA Paper work hell! we have mission report hell, psyche assessment report hell, Team member on boarding hell, Armor eating bug playbook hell, UC recommendation hell and this one is tetris I'm not going to lie," He told them. Donnovan was wearing his NASA sweat pants and a tight poly-fiber peice of underarmor- the kind of thing you wore under an exosuit or on the tread mill. He was rocking a pair of fuzzy socks.

The desk in front of him had a wind up dog tinkering on noisy legs across a maze of empty coffee cups. He had maybe six holo screens up which by federation social norms was rather an excessive number considering they also had tabs. Goody was laying on the floor with one open as well, though he was partially obscured cause he was half under the work counter. He didn't move to acknowledge their visitors until Donny spoke- he sat up quick and bonked his head hard on the table and laid back again with an oof.

"And this is Goody," Donny said- words punctuated with the clunk, "Wow Buddy, smooth," he added quietly and then looking up; "On a scale of first impressions how are we doing? Team Nine, am I right?"

Goody scooted out of from under the desk and waved. He was wearing an over sized hoody in mate black with glossy hexagonal patterns that were popular in the second alliance stations. Everything about him from his visored face to his shoes was black and sleek-except his boot laces, those were baby pink.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

"Happy to hear it," Miranda says to Cathal. "Zephyr will come around to him, they were just looking out."

Following Eppie into the medbay with Altis, Miranda checks to make sure Zephyr is still keeping up and that Cathal hasn't waylaid the big cuddlebug: she is pleased to see both of them keeping up, Zephyr purring and chirping as they follow along. Miranda glances up at Cathal, her gaze lingering for a few seconds before turning her attention to the bureaucratic purgatory on display as they approach Donny's desk.

Miranda's expression shifts from a curious smile born of contemplating Cathal's rugged handsomeness to bemusement at the mess of coffee cups and holoscreens that artfully frames Aleksi Donovan. Past the screens, Donny himself isn't half-bad either, even if the poor man is in urgent need of a better work arrangement, or at least a vacation. Glancing over at Altis, Miranda has to suppress a teasing smirk at the way her sister smiles at the scene.

[Oh, he's cute] Altis texts.
[Maybe you should see about getting him away from all this?] Miranda texts back, that smirk breaking out as Altis glances at her.

The conversation is cut short by a thunk, drawing the attention of the sisters to the Jiian soldier lying in wait beneath Donny's desk.

"What the fuck!" Miranda exclaims on behalf of herself and her sister, her training taking over and bracing her for a fight. Altis, having had the same basic combat training mandatory to all Commonwealth citizens, similarly braces for a fight; Zephyr, previously calm, jumps to attention, claws bared and warily regarding the one called Goody. Miranda is about to pounce when a critical detail stops her short.

Beyond her entoptics identifying him as Goodwin Jackson, Miranda recognizes the honeycomb pattern on Goody's hoodie from Second Alliance visitors to Eudaimonia. A Jiian soldier wearing Second Alliance fashions and baby pink shoelaces being an utter impossibility, Miranda realizes that Goody is a rescue and relaxes herself. Taking several breaths, Miranda's tail whips around, expressing the anxiety she is trying to suppress before it eventually settles. Altis and Zephyr are similarly both working their way back from red alert, waiting on Miranda to take the lead.

"Fuck, you're not...shit...sorry," Miranda says, embarrassment in her tone. "Our, ah, our files should say we're Commonwealth. You gave us a start there, Goody. I tried to familiarize myself with everyone on our team but a lot's been redacted from your dossier and I didn't realize you'd be..."

Miranda takes a deep breath before continuing: "My apologies. If you're here and wearing that, then you are most certainly a comrade of ours. You're not even the first rescue we've met, and we're glad you're here rather than the alternative, but...funny story, we were just on the other side of a misunderstanding like this..."

"It's good to meet you both," Altis says, the warmth in her voice genuine despite her being similarly flustered. "We've, ah, met some characters on our way here, and there's still a few of our teammates we haven't met yet."

"I think we've been making a similarly strong impression among some of them too," Miranda says, glancing over at Zephyr - whose caution has given way to curiosity as they lope over to Goody, with the same care as when they approached Eppie.

 

[CelticSol]

Eppie Cross
Intermission​

She really should have sent out a message or something to everyone on the team. A little headsup that, hey, the team coming aboard has a very large insectoid with them, don’t make moves to attack it. Cathal responds to it predictably, as does Finn, to very different conclusions - Cathal races to give pats, while Finn reaches for a gun not at his hip. She does not miss the tension that bristles through the new trio as they all spot the movement. She is about to attempt to placate them, but Cathal takes over for her, doing as Cathal does and chilling people out.

Thankfully, the rest of the trek to the medbay is uneventful, Cathal now joining them to pet Zephyr, and part of her praises God above that they did not run to Miloj, knowing he would likely lose his shit given how bad things went with the Cronch Bois (which, remembering his meltdown of panicked and violent Russian, prompts her to send Miloj a quick message about the new crew with a picture of Zephyr). She taps the panel to whisk the medbay doors open, and comes upon a very familiar scene of Donny lost in a sea of paperwork and stress.

Eppie inspects the scene with a fond smile, “Is it just the giant bug, or is it always this difficult?” She strides into the room with crossed arms, wincing at the bonk of Goody slamming his head into the table, “Shit, you good, buddy?” She crouches down to his level to check on him, making sure that he hasn’t hurt himself, before she turns to introduce them to the previously hiding man, “Miranda, Altis, Zephyr, meet G-“

“What the fuck!”

Eppie jumps as Miranda shouts suddenly, spinning to see what the actual fuck is going on, but only sees them tensing to fight, Zephyr stetching their claws out in an obvious threat towards Goody. It takes her less than a second to grow furiously protective, standing up and between Goody and the trio, one held up in a gesture to calm, the other resting on Goody’s head. Seeing how close Miranda is to simply pouncing, Eppie steps forward and puts her hands out, despite being a head shorter and likely much weaker than the genetically modified woman, and hisses with all the fury of a protective mother, “If you even touch a hair on his head, I swear to God you will regret it, Miranda. Step back from him.”

Miranda stops as she looks intently over Eppie’s shoulder at Goody, the tension suddenly bleeding from her body. There is... something, flicking in her eye, but Eppie does not stand down, even as she tries to explain the reasoning behind the violent response, wariness clear in her eyes. She only falters as the word rescue passes Miranda’s lips, her eyes flicking down to Goody. Rescue? And what was the relevance of the Commonwealth? The only conflict of anything at all involving them was between them and Jiian...

Oh. Oh.

Eppie looks at Goody and feels dizzy, suddenly having new eyes. She’d never, ever asked why he looked the way he did, as she had a prosthetic herself and sometimes grew annoyed in having to explain it’s origin over and over, but this? Jiian rescue is not what she’d ever expected. She’s never even really seen their soldiers, not really - at a distance while the Erudite’s Capitain spoke to them during an expedition on one of their planets. Goody is... Jesus, does she want to cry. She can’t even imagine what he’s had to endure during that.

She rests her hand on his sweet head again, standing close to him protectively. Looking down at him, she makes a quick sign to him, Are you okay, sweetie?

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Team Nine," Cathal agreed with Donny, looking from Eppie to the sisters and then down at Goody. "Your face is still on, bud, you're gonna be fine," he teased Goody. "If you want some good sympathy though Finn's being grumpy in the kitchen, I'm sure he'd love to fuss on you."

Maybe later they ought to do some team building exercises, Cathal thought, and filed away to suggest to Donny later.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Goody had not had a very good view as the situation escalated- being on the floor and behind Eppie as he was. This didn't stop the world from freezing for a moment as the dreaded look of recognition dawned across both sisters and a bristling murder trilobite flared at him. He flinched. At the end of the day goody was a structural engineer and not a soldier- even if he was supposed to have been one. Even if he looked like one. But the scene blew itself down before he had a chance to even move- before the Adrenalin level read out finished recording the spike-

He didn't like the words rescue or the way she didn't even want to say the world Jiian or soldier or what ever word everyone refused to say like that- nothing ever filled him up with as many tumultuous emotions as the knee jerk pity response.

"it's- it's fine," Goody said aloud in his customer service voice to the audience at large. Its what is required of him to say in the situation- it was the words that would seal the offending parties own deescalation. He kept his hand in the defensive position it had taken- even with Eppie standing between them. He leans away from Zephyr- not interested in petting something he just imagined ripping him open. He glances at Eppie who is looking at him like he is a one eared cat in the aspca, her hand still on his head; "I'm fine. really. And I've never been on a battle field in my entire life." He signed to her. Because Eppie cared too much to leave that to her imagination.
His dossier was redacted to avoid this social situation as much as possible.

His head snapped as Cathal's mention of Finn. it was a great gift that having no face made the blush response not something in his life. "No. shut up." He signed at him. His adrenaline was still spiking. He had to keep an eye on it and several other of his hormones.

Donny had to fight to try and smooth things over- with strong willed people like Eppie and Miranda it was usually best to let things play out. But it blew over. He tapped his knees to get zephyrs attention from goody. One of his favorite old earth animals was a horse shoe crab and honestly after all this time with NASA he'd watched Cathal pet weirder things.

"I've got your two's access codes for your rooms- the barracks and ships rules on them. There's a survey in there, asks some medical stuff its cause I'm simple and I need to know for my reference."
He smiled.
He hopped no one would call team nine a hot mess outloud for at least a couple days cause he wasn't sure he could come up with a believable rebuttal anytime soon.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Make me," Cathal signed back at Goody.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez​

[Oh, I've gone and kicked a hornet's nest] Miranda texts Altis.

It was virtually a reflex. Every child of the Commonwealth learns the importance of recognizing and being able to respond to a threat like a Jiian soldier from a very young age. Goodwin had - has - the outward signs of being a Jiian soldier, even with the clothing and adornments that demonstrate a freed will and a sense of self. Miranda saw it first, then Altis, then Zephyr, taking their cues from their creator and her sister. Miranda's training was about to take over; only by her own control and presence was she able to avert disaster.

But actions have consequences. Eppie Cross, so small and so brave, stands between Miranda, her sister, and Zephyr in order to protect Goody. Despite his calm, Miranda doesn't doubt that Cathal would have stepped in, with grisly consequences. Goody claims to not have been in a fight in his life, and Miranda doesn't even doubt it, which would have made what could have happened all the more sickening. Donny...Miranda couldn't imagine how harder his life is about to become.

"Come back to us, bug," Miranda gently calls, the word bug spoken as one would refer to a dog as pup or bud: recognizing Goody's wariness and respecting his space, Zephyr trots back over to Miranda's side, warbling softly with concern. Zephyr curls around her, claws pressed firmly against their sides: Miranda's tail comes to rest on Zephyr's carapace, its coolness soothing. She senses Altis step closer to her, and can feel the quiet worry from her sister.

Well, she got them into this mess, and she'll have to see them through. Miranda tucks her secondary pair of hands into her jacket as she clasps her primary pair together, taking a deep breath and summoning all of her powers of diplomacy.

"Before we go to get situated in our quarters, I'd like to apologize again - to all of you this time. I thought I saw a threat in Goodwin, and reacted accordingly, without thinking, and was just fortunate enough to stop myself short. Atlis and Zephyr merely followed my lead, so let the blame fall on my shoulders. It's clear that Goody is a valued member of this team, and I regret raising my fist toward him, and in so doing alert my sister and Zephyr to a threat that wasn't there. We're supposed to be a team, and I believe I have some amends to make in the coming days if we're going to work together well as one."

Miranda takes another breath. Humility isn't difficult for a child of Kollontai, given its importance in making amends. It's only the bitter taste of having threatened someone who has already dealt with so much.

"Is there anything we can help with, to...to start making amends?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Well, now you know how Finn feels," Cathal said to Miranda. To Goody he signed, "If you two keep refusing to talk to each other I might die."

 

[ValtheStarGal]

"Indeed," Miranda replies to Cathal, burning with embarrassment. "I'm making the appropriate updates to my IFF calculations accordingly."

 

[TrashRabbit]

"It's fine," Goody said again getting up- he made to tidy up Donny's cups, ignored Cathal utterly and disappeared into the deeps of medbay. Donny- knowing very well that there were two other entrances to the medbay watched him go.
"Don't be too hard on yourself Miranda. Ah...these things, you know, they happen," Donny said. He did not want to admit that he had infact tried to fight goody once, half asleep near the urinals during a post warp power outage. Cathal insisted it was some how not the weirdest fight he'd ever broken up. He shrugged sympathetically. "Now all of you shoo, I have all of this to do," He said gesturing emphatically at the holo screens with his red gratified hands.

 

[CelticSol]

Eppie Cross
Intermission​

The Mennonite in Eppie hates the idea of violence, the Cross in her has her ready to throw hands on Goody’s behalf, but it is Goody’s signs that make her relax, finally easing the tension in her shoulders. Thank you, she signs, because sitting with the thought that someone had forced Goody into a fight under threat makes her heart hurt in a way she just can express, and if anyone knows the extent of Eppie’s excessive empathy, it is Goody. She runs her hand over his head, tempted but resisting the urge to get on the floor to hold her son.

Eppie looks to Miranda, who speaks , her frown still present as she regards the much taller woman. Not that her first apology lacked in sincereity, but as Miranda apologizes once more, Eppie can see how much the woman means it. Goody accepts the apology and stands, clearing some cups and vanishing deeper into the medbay. Eppie runs her hand through her hair with a sigh, resting her hand on the back of her neck as she watches Goody go, concern clear on her expression.

Vowing to go speak with him later, Eppie returns her gaze to Miranda, leaning her hips on the table, “I should apologize, too - I reacted a little aggressively, and I’m sorry. I’m... I get protective of my boys,” Shifting awkwardly, Eppie smiles sheepishly “No harm done, right? I can show you guys down to your quarters, if you want?”

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez
Intermission
​

It saddens Miranda to see the way Goody coolly collects the cups of coffee from Donny's table and retreat into the medbay for parts unknown; the two of them are on the same side, after all, and should last of all be at each other's throats. Even with the conciliation of her comrades, the shame of raising a hand against Goody burns within Miranda like a brand. She frowns to see Goody go, even as she knows that action must be amended with action.

"Thank you, Donny," Altis says to him. "I understand that you should have some preliminary medical data on the three of us, and we will fill out your surveys, but I took the liberty of compiling some additional information for both Miranda and Zephyr for you to look over that should already be waiting for you among that mess of data, cutting through the jargon and paring things down so that you should hopefully not be overwhelmed by the technicalities of both my sister's and Zephyr's medical requirements. I also included the interface specifications for Miranda's and mine own cortical interfaces; we can be reached at the provided frequencies via text message is ever you need to reach us. I am available at all times should you need to consult with me further."

[Setting up a date, are you?] Miranda texts.

[Opening up the possibility] Altis replies, the wink implied. [I think I'm gonna make him a coffee mug.]

Miranda smiles at her sister, happy to see something positive come out of this mess. Her attention turns to Eppie, who has just apologized in her own turn; Miranda is touched by the gesture, as though Eppie has anything to apologize for.

"No harm done: the gesture is appreciated, but there's no need to apologize for acting in defense of Goody," Miranda says to Eppie, smiling at her and hoping that she hasn't utterly blown her chances. "I know of no higher act than rushing to the aid of a comrade, and only hope that the three of us prove worthy of that kind of trust in the future."

"<I hope he'll be okay!>" Zephyr chirps in worrisome notes, still curled around Miranda's legs and now laying on the floor to make themself appear as nonthreatening as possible while looking off to where Goody disappeared.

"We would be happy for you to show us to our quarters," Altis adds, speaking on behalf of the three of them. "I, for one, know that I have a lot of equipment to set up before I can call it a day."

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr​

Kevin wanted to hide forever. But he couldn’t. He was low on food. He had leftovers, but he was supposed to get his requested groceries today. In the meantime, he studied... The files explained what Zephyr was (more like a hunting animal than a service dog, the way he saw it.) and what Miranda had done to her. Just when he thought he and Tina were extensively modified... Damn. DAMN. Why genemods as opposed to cybernetics was anyone’s guess... but he could eventually get used to her. The bug... Bad memories. He shivered. Maybe he could start down this chain by talking to the sister? She was normal. Well, physically speaking. Being the geneticist behind her sister’s crazy genome, he expected her to be as weird as the rest of the crew.
“Fuck... I wanted to make Enchiladas Verde for lunch tomorrow. Everyone coulda shared in... Would’ve even been leftovers, maybe... You really are a coward, Kev.”
He said, entering pity party mode... before briefly considering sneaking out and doing it anyway. The only way to do so undetected was through the vents, and that was a no-go. He objected to Nostromo vents in ANYTHING because vents that big ALWAYS resulted in someone or something getting in those vents, causing trouble, and maybe cronching poor crew members like himself. So he installed really tough access doors on his. The sort of access doors that could environmentally seal his room in the event of a hull breach. They were normally set to just open up and vent air... but they’d close in a hull breach event, or if he hit the switch. He hit that switch a lot the night before he figured out Mako liked crawling in the vents. Wait. Mako! She could bring him his supplies because she was brave and he was sure he could bribe her with home cooking! And off fired the text:
Kevin: Mako, I don’t think I’ve texted you much but I need a favor. I need you to grab the grocery coolers labeled Kevin and bring them to my room. Through the vents, if possible. I’d do it myself... But I don’t want to get seen by the new people. They have this terrifying bug thing and it’s scary and I think it would’ve ate me if the new girl didn’t tell it not to. I’m not leaving my room unless there’s an emergency. I just can’t. If you do this for me, I owe you some home cooking.

 

[Nimbus]

Intromission: Ji-Eun "June" Moon

Starring in, "I can't believe it's NASA!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Apparently, you couldn't drive or ride motorized vehicles in this spaceport without a special license. June had to wheel her motorbike to the docks for the remaining 2/3rds from, the gate to where all the ships chilled. She was grateful she had on proper boots, rather than the heels she wore for interview #3. She would have A. murdered her feet with this distance and B. been tempted to chuck the heels in the general direction of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over there. A pair of port officials hovered around her, drilling her with questions about her luggage - which they held in hock due to "suspicious content," even though it had been cleared by GTSA and three separate customs agents on the way here.

"All contents except for the personal belongings marked in the specified crate are specifically provisioned for my assignment," she repeated, "Did my passport not clear?"

Maybe she should have suggested Donovan park the suddenthunderbaby666 in the Stijekibastija Spaceport instead. Less bureaucracy there. She'd have to pay off the Port Authority to make sure all the pricey tech got from point A to B without going "missing," sure. But at least they knew the importance of hardlight to a hardlight specialist.

"That's not the issue, Miss. The total value of your cargo requires-"

Before the port official could finish, a kid on a hover board whooshed by not even a foot in front of June. Taken aback, June raised her hand off the bike's steering column. Light in frame, it quickly listed to the left. June caught the bike before it slipped out of her reach, all but hugging the handlebars. Who the hell let kids run amok in a Spaceport anyways?

"Only one hand on the vehicle, Miss," the official said, even though What a stupid rule!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were now within arm's reach - something Papa called "detaining distance." Good God and all his Celestial Cyborg Angels, they really thought she was going to hop back on and zip away!

"If you're looking for a runaway to chase, 'm pretty sure one just passed you by." June rolled her eyes and smoothed her hair in the reflective chrome of her bike. The temptation to mount the bike just to pop a wheelie ticked up by the second.

The officials, clearly more used to sitting behind the desk than standing in front of one, blinked at her, glanced towards the trail of mist left by the airborne kid, then whispered at each other in hushed tones who would radio in about the unknown hovering minor.

A hundred times out of a hundred, June would pick NASA fieldwork over a gig like this, where everybody came up with fancy designations and reminded each other of the skatey-eight rules to follow instead of actually doing something about a problem. The Aquilan walked a little faster, mostly to work off her bottled frustration.

She could see the ship from where she strolled. UC9 - suddenthunderbaby666 - glinted at her, a suggestive wink in its own way. Or maybe it was just the artificial light tricking her. Wait, was that glitter sprinkled on the hull? She needed at least a dozen photographs of this sparkly babe to commemorate her milestone once she got her cameras back. She finally hit the career jackpot. NASA UCC.

It's just all the tools she needed to succeed weren't loaded on the ship. The loading lift was left down just like she requested. She wanted to make a good impression by having all her shit together and loading it as quickly as possible onto the ship. Now she just looked high-maintenance at best. She didn't want to think about the worst impression she could make, so she settled on uncool, childish as it sounded.

Externally, June took a deep breath and gripped the handlebar tighter. Her gloves let out a tiny squeak from the motion.

Internally, June was screaming, "Aaaaaaaaaaaa, I cannot even it's NASA!" Butterflies were having a rave in her rib cage. This was maybe the most important day of her entire life. Or, if it wasn't, it was totally up there in the top 5.

<<"You know what? I'm not gonna be back here anytime soon. Fuck it,">> June muttered in her native tongue, securing the portfolio with her most important papers onto her back.

"If you want to know more about my situation, gentlemen, you can take it up with NASA. Bye now!"

She stood astride the bike and flicked a switch to power on the battery. Revving the engine once, she cut a straight path to Commander Hekkiah's ship, keeping a fair distance from anything that would be on a collision course. She even jumped the bike slightly, to clear the ledge between the

The Commander wasn't on the other side of the lift, but June wasn't completely alone either. From her vantage point, she could see they had brown hair, and more brown on their face - a patch of beard, maybe? Something metallic glinted on their person. She wondered if - maybe hoped a little - it was a gun. She could break the ice pretty easy, talking about guns. Or maybe it was a type of scientific implement? June bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to find out.

"Hello up there! Ji-eun reporting for duty," she waved and shouted at the other person, because they looked like they were waiting.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan
I can't believe its not NASA!
​

Donovan was less worried about Ji-eun joining up than Miranda if only because Ji-eun was Aquila and if there was anywhere in the sol conglomerate that felt like walking into a frontiersmen rig it was there. He wasn't worried about making an impression. If anything Team nine had taught him that first impressions were useless and every one knew he lived in his pajamas eventually. So he had rolled out of bed in his "team 9 doesn't suck shirt" though to be fair to the current crew the shirt was a relic from when he and Cathal had been new to NASA themselves. The Ship had landed in the afternoon local time, but ship time it was damn early in the morning- the only one who had to pretend not to notice leave for shore leave a solid fourteen hours early was Goody, though.

"Huh," He said to himself and sipped his coffee.

It was usually Cathal.

He lowered the ramp as Ji-eun had requested and spent his morning sitting on a crate full of geological equipment sipping his coffee and reading the news on his holo pad. Senate votes. Cat Memes. Miniature giraffes. He sent that last article to Cathal, for when he woke up. He ran out of intranet and fiddled around his pocket for one of the wind ups he'd printed a few weeks ago- It was a simple machine based on kinetics and flew in the direction of light. It was generically bug shaped and he cranked the little wind up toy with his almost too big mechanical fingers. It was little motor skills like that vexed and delighted him- it was honestly easier with his prosthetic than his original sausage fingered hands. He let the little machine go and watched it chase the reflections of the sunlight shining off the metal railings and floors of the cargo bay.

the sound of the bikes engine gets him to his feet, and he snatches the flying machine as he goes to look. He tries to get in one last sip of coffee before he has to be a human and talk to people. He's not to thrown by her riding a bike into the cargo hold. Cathal had ridden a horse in once.

He smiled as she yelled up to him, "Yo! What up?!" He called back as he waited for the lift to deliver her and the bike. "I'm Donny, Team lead- Medic, paper pusher, ship mom. Welcome to team nine- we don't suck." He said pointing at his shirt and bouncing on his toes a little. He reaches out one heavily grafittied matte red enameled hand to shake hers. She looked chic and well put together but the bike and that smile hinted at something scrappier that her dossier had confirmed long before he laid eyes on her. "I'll be getting you situated- Your stuff's caught up in customs but The commander is screaming at them as we speak. Hope they didn't hassle you too much?"

 

[Nimbus]

Intromission: Ji-Eun "June" Moon

Starring in, "I can't believe it's not NASA!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________

June pretty much bubbled with giggles at Donny's greeting. No pretensions here - just the way she liked it. The butterflies she felt crowding her insides earlier gradually began to spread out. She could have fun here, from the looks of it.

"What's up is the suddenthunderbaby666! That name suits her. 'Grats to the hero who came up with that."

On a ship, you could go anywhere in the galaxy. Even all the way back to Earth, but it was pretty unlikely an Unknown Crisis team would be sent there. One of the sol system's colonies, maybe. She hadn't been back to A3 since before Stijekibastija took her broke ass in. Homesickness tugged at her, a little bit, but it was dwarfed by the desire to take in pretty much everything around her, including Donny's arm graffiti. She caught herself staring at it in wonderment, half trying to decode it, when they shook hands. June's glove bunched up a little at the motion, letting out a soft squeak she did her level best to talk over.

"*Mannaseo bangabseubnida, Donny! You can call me Ji-eun or June. I suppose since you're the lucky guy who manages the paperwork, you pretty much already know what I'm about."

She had a chuckle over the team lead's choice in attire. She heard all kinds of rumors between interviews but wasn't swayed. She listened to interviews of the team after their successful mission on Mars. Besides which, the hardlight specialist could handle weird, as long as that weird was bundled up with a significant amount of smart and get-up-and-go. From the sound of it, June was going to groove well with the commander

"Ooh what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the custom's office wall right now~"

Her wink, she hoped, would be considered playful, maybe a bit conspiratorial.

"Nothing I couldn't handle. Every spaceport's a zoo, in some respect."

A couple seconds after she mentioned zoos, June had a brilliant idea that was maybe not entirely serious: "That's what the Federation needs; a spaceport with a petting zoo in it!"

With a flick of her wrist, a little animated alpaca leapt from one hand to the other. Hardlight microprocessors like the ones found in her implants could easily be modded for straight-up holo projection, but June felt like showing off just a little.

"But yeah, as long as I get my gear loaded before we take off, it'll all be a peach. Thanks a bunch for helping me out. Oh hey, what's that in your hand there?" June nodded at a many-legged figurine that Donny held.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*this means "Nice to meet you" in Korean, according to Google. it is for when addressing boss-types for the first time I think?

 

[CelticSol]

Eppie Cross
Intermission: Two Girls and a Bug Walk into a Bar
​

Eppie smiles warmly in response to Miranda’s praise, a flush as pink as her hair warming her face, “I look forward to the day. You’ve already proved yourself more than impressive already,” An internal voice screams in her head, Hey, Eppie? Please tone down your overwhelming gay, thanks, and her blush burns even brighter as she quickly adds, “I don’t doubt we’ll all come to trust you. All of you. This is a line of work where you sort of can’t afford not to trust each other, with all the shit we do out on the field. Once you’re settled in, everyone will come around. Even Kevkev.”

Giving Zephyr one more pet before parting, she waves the trio to follow her down into the halls leading deeper into the ship, “I’ll show you down to the quarters. You’ve met pretty much everyone - except Mako and Miloj... I think Miloj isn’t onboard, but we can check in on Mako and introduce you two,” Upon twisting through the maze of halls, Eppie gestures widely towards a hall, “So this is the hall of the main crew quarters. Hekkiah and a mission control staff have rooms a little farther down, but I think your room and Altis’ are adjacent. Anyway, there aren’t really any rules, just respect privacy of other people.”

Eppie goes to one of the doors, engaging the access panel to open the door to Mako’s room, peeking into the room, “Hey, kitten, you in here? The new crew members are here.”

 

[theunderwolf]

Mako threw another cooler into the vents as she chewed a long strip of smoke-dragon meat. It was chewy and tough so when Kevkev texted her she decided that maybe trying to cook her massive pile of meat would help. So there she was, vent entrance in her room pried open, gently tossing up Kevkev's meal packs and her own coolers of raw meat into the small metal hallways. She was of course hungry, like constantly so she was grabbing decent looking hunks and strips of meat. (Of course she didn't notice chewing through the raw meat was soaking her "Team 9 Doesn't suck" shirt through with blood, but she was really unused to being a clean eater in the first place. She had impeccable table manners on command but what fun was it? But at the sound of footsteps her nose started twitching. Eppie was coming! And another human and.... something. Some alien? Her nose said alien and her ears said many legs. It raised the hair on the back of her neck but no one smelled scared. So that was fine. As the door opened she slurped down the rest of her meat chunk and smiled in greeting. "Hi Nyashshi!" She said brightly, calling Eppie by fresh nickname. It was in Fferid but human mouths could actually make the right sounds for it. "Who's this?" She continued as she waved them in, suddenly seeing the new crew-member. She was moderately tall and distinctly non human, she wasn't an alien. Mako could smell the human chemicals and fluids in her but she was the most genetically modded human Mako had ever seen. Even more interesting was the insectoid next to her. Mako kneeled down to stare at him nose twitching. Predatory yes but domestic. And by his stance and reactions... he was sentient. Instantly she changed her body language in a way imperceptible to the humans in the room but letting the bug know she was inquisitive but friendly.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez
Two Girls and a Bug Walk into a Bar​

Eppie's blushing smile has a charm to it that uncoils the knots in Miranda's gut and sends a thrill through her. She can see Altis glancing back at Donny out of the corner of her eye as Zephyr perks up, following Eppie's hand as they rise to trot up alongside and lean into her with renewed purring. The three of them follow Eppie out of the medbay and through the corridors of the old cruiser, listening attentively to her orientation - for the most part: Miranda's mind only occasionally wanders, getting lost in the cadence of Eppie's voice and spinning daydreams of Eppie on her lap, holding Eppie in her arms, leaning in for a kiss...

"Hey kitten, you in here?"

Hearing a pet name addressed to someone else snaps Miranda's attention back to the present, where she finds herself standing with the others outside of Mako's room, looking in. Mako greets Eppie in turn with a bloody smile, her Team 9 shirt soaked through with blood and clinging to her body, surrounded by bags and coolers of raw ingredients. Having witnessed many stomach-turning sights in her time, Miranda is not alarmed by the sight of blood; the way that Mako turns to regard her, however, is an altogether different kind of exciting. Miranda thinks she sees Mako take shallow breaths as if taking Miranda's scent, regarding her with a distinctly different sort of curiosity from the rest of the crew.

[I'll go get started on setting up our equipment, come help me out once you've had your fun ] Altis texts Miranda, who thinks she hears Altis' footsteps fading as her sister leaves her and Zephyr to start unpacking.

Quickly acknowledging the message, Miranda's attention returns to find Mako having diverted hers to Zephyr - who has gone near perfectly still, head slightly askew in curiosity and trilling steadily. Zephyr steps up to Mako with much the same curiosity that they did Eppie, claws tucked up against their sides, warbling at Mako in a way that Miranda has only rarely heard them do so before. Moving slowly and gingerly, Zephyr raises their head up and takes several sharp inhalations, in a way that Miranda has only ever seen them do when taking the scent of some kind of novel form of xenolife. To Miranda's relief, Zephyr seems to relax, satisfied with whatever information they needed to think on.

Without warning, Zephyr's stance goes wide and their claws splay out on the floor like a dog ready to chase something but making no further movement, visibly anticipating Mako's next move.

"Zephyr seems to want to play with you!" Miranda says, a bemused grin on her face as she tries to keep up with one surprise after another.

 

[CelticSol]

Eppie Cross
Intermission: Two Girls and a Bug Walk into a Bar​

If she is honest, Eppie can’t help that she’s blabbing a bit. She manages well enough to tone it down when in Mako’s vicinity, but she’s also known Mako for a handful of months, and Mako was often more nervous around Eppie that Eppie could distract herself by teasing poor Mako. But Miranda seems completely unflappable in that sense, and it’s agony. Miranda seems effortlessly confident about everything, and every time she spares a look behind her at the woman, she catches Miranda staring, and even with her back turned, Eppie swears she can feel her eyes on her back.

Jesus, it’s distracting.

As Eppie strides into Mako’s room, she starts back ino focus at the sight of Mako. Not at the fact she is throwing various food products into the vents - which is completely normal procedure for taking care of Kevkev during his more anxious days - but at the fact her shirt and face is heavily stained with blood. There is blood in her teeth from practically swallowing a hunk of raw meat whole, but still, Eppie smiles fondly as Mako greets them.

Since she has started to call Mako ‘kitten’, Mako has endeavoured to find a nickname suitable for Eppie, often referring to her as a different nickname every time she saw her. This one, however, catches her attention, as Eppie not only does not know the meaning of the word, but has no name for it’s language of origin, “Nyashshi?” Eppie echoes in question, trying her best to pronounce the word and failing to produce the same growl she heard Mako use, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that language before, kitty. Maybe you can teach me a bit of it later?”

Laying a hand of one of Miranda’s upper set of arms, she gestures to Miranda, “Anyway, Mako, this is Miranda, our new science agent and a renowned xenoplanetologist. Her sister, Altis, will also be joining us on the ship, but I think she’s gone to set up some equipment, so we’ll have to introduce you two later... Oh! And this is Zephyr,” Eppie pats Zephyr’s head, crossing the room to stand by Mako’s side, “Miranda, Zephyr, this is our survival expert, Ann Mako.”

Eppie just about rests an arm on Mako, but halts as she realizes Mako’s shirt is drenched in blood. She pulls the bottom of Mako’s shirt teasingly, an eyebrow raised, “Mako, you’ve made a mess.”

 

[TrashRabbit]

Donny
I can't believe it's not NASA​

Ji-eun talked a mile a minute. But she tracked- and that's more than he could say for the first time he met Cathal. He nods along. Most space ports were in fact like zoos- he chuckled at the little llama she summoned. She's was good with the holograms as the files said. Its no easy thing to pull an image into a hologram on the fly with your brain- at least that's what he's told.

“Now worries, if they don't load your gear it wont be our problem it will be theirs, I guarantee it,” He said with a nod and surety that came from watching the commander verbally slay bureaucrats for breakfast. He looked down at the small flying machine in his hand and held it out. “Its just a buggy,” He says like that aught to mean something, then adds, “Uh, its a simple flyin' drone using a photoresistor. My girl designed it.”

He held it out so she could see it's delicate cicada like wings and a clear insect body with the circuit board and photoresistor inside. “She says if the instruction are easy enough for me to print and assemble it's easy enough for anyone. Anyway- why don't you park that beast over there and I introduce you to the crew?”

He lead her into the ship, peeking into the common rooms and popular hiding nooks.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay
I can't believe its not NASA!​

It was very, very early ship time, though not locally. Cathal was in the kitchen spooning obscene amounts of sugar into his coffee and reading the article about miniature giraffes that Donny had sent him.

"Why would u tease me like this???" he texted Donny back. He was sitting on the kitchen counter in his pajamas, which were his own "Team Nine doesn't suck" t-shirt and fluffy pj pants covered in sugar skulls. He heard Donny and who he assumed must be June down the hall, and shouted, "Donny, you're killin' me here. I want nine of these!"