Astropunk | IC | Started | Not Accepting |

.:Blu:. · January 13, 2014

Chapter 1: Glory

[spoiler=Chapter 1 Synopsis]After escaping the clutches of IU authorities, a criminal poses as veteran space explorer, Elric Malcolm, and steals his starship along with his newly-formed crew. As they depart Earth, the fake Elric Malcolm must now figure out a way to resolve his problems and come out unscathed. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew adjusts to their new life aboard the Glory 7.[/spoiler][hr]
The hour was way passed sunset - deep into the dusk and heading towards the dawn but not yet quite there. Heavy, unnaturally black smoke filled the night air; polluting it. The smoke was born from flames and, the flames, from wreckage. Twisted and mangled remains of military vehicles littered the Nasshaw Valley - a place of red-tinged desert dirt and very little vegetation; now made only worse-looking by the heaps of metal scrap. Among the unrecognizable wreckage are human corpses, freshly dead - an ironic and contradictory description but factual nonetheless. It was clear what Nasshaw Valley was: a battlefield. A blurred figure rushed across a straight path and following not far behind it was a soldier of the Interterran Union's army. Strapped with an assault rifle, the IU soldier aimed at the target's head and began to fire. The figure responded quickly as it ducked and rolled forward; completely avoiding the gunfire. Reaching a pistol nearby, the figured swiftly picked up the gun, turned back and fired, successfully hitting the IU soldier in the head and sending him down. Standing up, the figure revealed itself to be a man of brown hair and sharp eyes - and even sharper reflexes.

"Not much of a marksman. Shoulda aimed for my body." the man quipped while displaying an out-of-breath smile. Placing the pistol in his holster, the man headed forward once more. After a bit of a climb uphill, the man reached a group of soldiers. Judging by their outfits, they were fighting for the other side. "What I'd missed?" the man announced his presence, surprising every soldier there.

"Colonel, you're alive!" one soldier, Brenard, said with relief.

"I try to be." the Colonel responded. He then turned his attention to Naila, a beautiful, dark-skinned woman and his trusty lieutenant. "Naila, status report." he casually ordered.

"We've lost contact with Bravo and the enemy's got us hold up on this little hill. And while we're running low on ammo, the enemy's expecting another supply drop soon." Naila reported.

"Damn it!" the Colonel cursed out of frustration. Placing his hands on his hips and looking out onto the battlefield, the Colonel wiped the sweat and blood from his forehead while desperately attempting to come up with a plan. "Did you order in air support like I asked before we got separated?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir." Naila confirmed.

The Colonel shook his head as if he understood what needs to be done. "Alright, we're gonna have to hold 'em off until air support gets here. We'll use this hill for cover while we hit 'em from the sides. They'll have to divide their forces and getting through this wreckage will slow 'em down. Once they get past the wreckage, we'll have to retreat. Remember: only shoot the soldiers climbing through the wreckage." the Colonel explained.

As the other soldiers prepared the equipment, Naila stood by the Colonel. "I don't like our odds, Sir. We're outnumbered and, more importantly, outgunned." Naila expressed her concerns.

"Guess we're taking a leap of faith then." the Colonel paused as he loaded an assault rifle he had picked up off the ground, "'Course, this hill is a mite too high and I'm not so sure if I like heights." he finished, a hint of worry in his voice. Unfortunately, before the plan could be carried out, the IU soldiers have already arrived at the area prematurely and began to fire at the Colonel and his men. "Duck!" the Colonel shouted, prompting his soldiers to quickly lay flat atop the hill. "We figured wrong! Those IU dogs have been right on us this whole time!" the Colonel shouted to Naila over the sound of rapid gunfire.

"I don't wanna die, Colonel! I still haven't met a gal I wanna marry and raise kids with!" a scared Brenard confessed his aspiration to the Colonel.

"We're not gonna die, Private! We're not gonna die! And you know why that is!? God don't let good, honest men like us die!" the Colonel assured Brenard. He then proceeded to reach into his shirt and pulled out a cross necklace; holding it tightly in his palm. "Dear God in Heaven, I pray you, don't let this kid die. Please, don't let any of us die here." the Colonel quietly prayed. Suddenly, the shooting ceased, replaced by the sound of an aircraft approaching. Hearing that, a huge smile graced the Colonel's face before turning into a laugh of salvation. Not saying another word, the Colonel and his men eagerly got up off the ground to witness the incoming aircraft. Unfortunately, a grim image lay before their eyes: the aircraft the Colonel and his men saw belonged to the enemy. The smile was wiped from the Colonel's face and time slowed to a crawl in his mind. The light from the aircraft bathed the soldiers and the wind its thrusters had created blew on their tattered garments. To the Colonel, everything that was happening at the moment seemed so surreal. He didn't know how to respond to it; he simply stood still. Next thing the Colonel knew, an IU soldier leaned out of the aircraft and fired his rifle, killing Brenard who was standing beside him while he stood unresponsive.

-5 Years Later-

Midday in the Earth capital of Utopia - a grand megalopolis fueled by the latest technologies - as with every other day since centuries past, the city is alive and thriving. While countless hovering vehicles flew to their destinations, guided by light-emitting rails, in the skies of the capital, below, lively, busy civilians walked the streets; from an overhead perspective, they all just look like ants - millions of ants. But to be more poetic and, surely, less demeaning, they are the capital's blood cells - the life force that keeps it running. In a simpler time, Utopia was once known as New York City but that all changed after the Union War. Now, it is one of twelve major capitals on Earth, boasting more than ten percent of the planet's population. Today is a special day for a certain group of individuals either living or having arrived in the capital not so long ago. Funded by the Titan Pharmaceutical Conglomerate, today is the day that the newly-formed crew of the Glory 7 embarks on a three-year voyage across the galaxy. Their goal: to explore any uncharted planets they may come across and collect materials which they can send back to Titan for research.

This entire mission was made possible by one man: Elric Malcolm - a veteran explorer of the galaxy and captain of the starship, the Glory 7. But don't let that description fool you, Malcolm's not very well-known in any regards. He's just a man with a ship and a penchant for adventure. In fact, none of his new crew members have even seen their captain, but today they will; for the first time too. They're scheduled to meet him down by his ship at Riegelmann Boardwalk along the shore of what used to be Coney Island; it has since been repurposed to serve as a docking point for starships. Unbeknownst to them, however, they will not meet Captain Elric Malcolm today. Well, at least not the real one. Not far from the boardwalk, a familiar colonel, now turned lowlife thief, was being chased down by a couple of IU police officers. The officers had an advantage with their hover cycles while the ex-colonel relied on his feet and whatever luck he may have. Making a sharp left turn into a narrow alleyway, the ex-colonel found himself facing a tall, steel fence. He looked back to confirm that the officers had now arrived at the alley yet and then began to climb.

Impressively, it only took him twenty seconds to scale the fence; getting back down was easy. Acting quickly, he hid himself behind a section of wall to avoid detection. Finally, the officers arrived and stopped their cycles to take a brief look into the alley. They saw nothing which prompted them to move on. Taking a peek from behind the wall confirmed the ex-colonel's successful escape. He couldn't help but ushered a quick chuckle to signal his relief. "Not very bright, them dogs. Missed me entirely." he said with an easy tone. But there was no time to celebrate. He needed to move quickly - he needed to get off Earth. The more time he spent in Utopia - and on the planet in general - the more uneasy he felt. After all, he was dead center in IU territory. A ship is what he needed and he knew exactly where to get one. Accessing his MOVA, the ex-colonel brought up a map of the capital on his floating display. Riegelmann Boardwalk is where he would find his means of escaping this rock - it's a popular location for starships to dock and to leave from. "Don't you ships go anywhere without me." he joked before turning off his MOVA and then leaving the area.

Remember when the ex-colonel insulted the officers and thought he had eluded them completely? Well, he spoke too soon. The officers were actually waiting for him on the other side, in another alley. Right as he left this alleyway, the ex-colonel found himself facing down the barrels of two CLG-7 pistols. Slowly placing his hands up as a sign of surrender, the ex-colonel smiled nervously. "Don't s'pose you fine gentlemen wanna talk this over, would you?" he asked with the faintest of hopes that they would, in fact, like to negotiate. Without responding, the two officers got off their hover cycles and proceeded to secure the ex-colonel's hands with cuffs. That was a big mistake. It was clear to the ex-colonel that these two officers are still amateurs. Only one of them should've cuff the ex-colonel's hands while the other should've stayed on their hover cycle with their pistol trained on the ex-colonel. Instead, both of them decided to approach the ex-colonel. Taking advantage of the situation, the ex-colonel awaited for one of the officers to attempt to cuff his hands before suddenly backing up and forcefully bashing the officer into the wall behind him; knocking him out cold.

Before the other officer could respond - having already been delayed because he momentarily let his guard and his gun down - the ex-colonel had drawn his custom-built L-60 revolver and fired a shot right into the side of the officer's lower abdomen. Blood splattered onto the wall right behind the officer - his own - and he fell to his butt with his body leaning up against the wall. As the officer groaned in pain and placed pressure onto his gunshot wound, the ex-colonel proceeded to kick the officer's pistol far from his reach and then grabbed both of the officers' communicators. Throwing them onto the ground, he promptly smashed them into smithereens with his boot. He then looked to the bleeding officer who, weakly, asked if he was going to kill him. The ex-colonel pretended to contemplate the matter just to scare the officer and have a bit of fun. "No, I ain't gonna kill ya." he finally said, much to the officer's relief. "But I ain't a dummy neither." he followed up and then pistol-whipped the officer with his revolver to knock him unconscious. This will buy the ex-colonel some time - enough to hopefully stow away on a ship at Riegelmann Boardwalk and get off this damn rock.

Kyng's Old Account · January 13, 2014

"Understood."

Those were the words spoken by the fur-coat clad woman as she stood back in a secluded alley, talking to the director of her operations. It would seem she would be tasked with what she'd describe as a more lax mission in contrast to the prior incidents. Looking to her forearm, her MOVA in particular, she spoke to a deep, firm, authoritative voice who, in the current instance, was ending transmission upon his end. Once said transmission had ceased she tucked her MOVA beneath the sleeve of her fur coat once again, hiding it from public eye and, adjusting the coat's collar, began to proceed from the location she had just been secretly communicating in - she had kept herself hidden due to speaking with the Union Intelligence Agency, of which she was herself an operative.

However, she remained perfectly disguised in the streets of Utopia, as just a woman with her coat. She blended fairly well into her surroundings despite how much one'd think a blue-haired woman in a fur coat would stick out in a crowd. Walking in the many busy streets, hands warmly tucked into her pockets, she hummed to herself as she pondered the nature of the task she'd been assigned - in doing so, she also began to reminisce about when she first heard the news of the assignment.

While walking the coastal route to Riegelmann Boardwalk, Leta's eyes were casted over to an amusement park, full of life and cheer. The future was generous to amusement parks, with the attractions' manufacturing and design having excelled both in safety standard and technological innovation. It was quite fitting, a megacity that was Utopia had tourist attractions as magnificent as their parks. However Leta soon smelt a familiar aroma. Her eyes were drifted- no, captured- no, seduced by the pungent scent that was a simple burger stall - with her stomach hungering and her heart wavering, she sighed with a chuckled knowing she couldn't resist such a charming establishment's burgers. With her mind settled she made her way to the stall and nabbed herself a good ol' hamburger.

This was a nice burger. I mean, seriously, this was a nice burger. Kitted with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese; and then lavishly dressed with condiments like mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. Finding herself a seat, Leta took herself a bite of the juicy, mouth-watering sandwich and, in the instant her eyes rolled back with pleasure. She was in love. There was surely no greater truth to life than the sheer satisfaction that a hamburger could provide. Leta didn't wolf the sandwich down like some uncivilised beast - no, she took her time and, with each individual bite, she relived that ecstasy that the hamburger's amalgamation of tastes provided. A few times she couldn't help let out a little moan of sheer bliss from the delicious meal - which did draw the attention of some curious eyes and ears - but to be frank she really didn't care. Nothing could ruin this day, this moment...and with that last nibble, she understood the truest meaning of being sated.

Even Leta knew all good things had to come to an end. With a very grateful smile for such a fantastic meal, Leta thought to herself that 'I shouldn't take too many liberties now. I'll still arrive early...let's see...Rie-Riegelmann Boardwalk was the place I need to go. The Captain's Name was Elric Malcolm - from what I was briefed it seems he's a reasonable individual, doesn't seem suspicious in the slightest. His background checks out well, too. I'll be in safe hands during the course of the mission.' Leta hadn't been given much details on her Captain, nor his face. All she knew was he had a strong background making him a viable candidate for the task to go into these unmarked territories. 'Though of all companies why would Titan Pharmaceuticals be so interested in this kind of expedition-' With this thought Leta looked around to her surroundings and had made her way to the boardwalk.

As she continued to walk up to the ship she continued her thought. 'Ah, it ain't for me to know. Just stick to my job, help out the Captain and everything should go swimmingly~' Finishing the thought Leta found herself looking over the mid-class Starship, the Glory 7. Leta hummed in thought looking it over. It was a ferry-class ship, as the main function it served was the transportation of passengers, which would be the crew including herself. It was quite large, though she assumed as much when briefed about the schematics of the ship and where she'd be resting her head for the next three years. Upon realizing this, however, Leta soon discovered a sensation of butterflies. Looking to the floor she let out a sigh as she brushed her foot across the boardwalk - although she was used to going abroad to foreign regions, and she had been in space before, never for such a long period of time.

Waiting patiently at the docks, arms crossed as a slightly chilly breeze blew through, Leta looked at her surroundings idly in hopes a person would show up.

Desu the Blue Nerd · January 16, 2014

Oh, the big city. A magnificent hub of technology. Varying quality in every glimpse and although the newest products could be seen in every other window it was the quantity that was most overwhelming. If Alphonse was a man of less dignity he'd likely get a nosebleed from such sights. Plus, it'd be simply embarrassing to look so unsightly when his father is occupying the driver's seat right next to him. That same father who had been trying to get Alphonse's attention for at least two minutes now as Alphonse's mind was lost in the ecstasy of the sights. "For a guy with a brain that big you can be pretty absent minded, y'know?"

Alphonse turned his head to Franklin. "Apparently so."

"Oh, finally got your head back here on earth, eh?" Frank chuckled to himself.

"For a little bit longer at least." The two then laughed together for a bit until Alphonse said, "But seriously, eyes on the road." Franklin did so and Alphonse continued to talk. "I know we're barely moving but you can get lost in humor as easily as I get lost in the wiring of a three room apartment."

"Yeah, about that. Didn't you say you'd eventually pay me back for that security deposit?" Alphonse chuckled a little bit more except this time with a faint hint of nervousness. "Do you see me laughing too, boy? I hope that space ship has an ATM on it. Your pay's gonna be pretty good and up there in deep space there's not really a whole lot of electronics and what not to buy. You'll come home with a good chunk of change in your pocket and some of that better be set aside for me rather than what's been on the front page of The Weekly Wrench for those three years."

Alphonse let out a short sigh and hung his head down. He then began to fiddle around with his MOVA for a few seconds. "There we go. I set some money aside in case we drove by a hardware store on the way to Riegelmann Boardwalk. We did leave early after all. Turns out that earliness would be used for getting through traffic. Either way I transferred some money into Roger's account. It should be enough to cover that incident." Alphonse sat back in his seat and closed his eyes awaiting the eventual arrival at the boardwalk. Fran was about to open his mouth to say something but Alphonse quickly interjected. "And I know you're simply flabbergasted with why I'd put the money in Roger's account. We passed by two joke shops oddly slowly." Frank closed his mouth and kept driving. "Why's there so much traffic anyway?"

It looks like leaving early paid off as they arrived at Riegalmann Boardwalk with some time still left to spare. Still, they made no hesitation of getting out of the car and walking to the trunk that Frank quickly popped up. "You packed surprisingly lightly." Of course the trunk was already fairly packed.

Alphonse shrugged before responding. "I was told there'd be some stuff on board for me so I figured I should at least take along my own preferred things. Not to mention that Lunar Multitool seriously cuts back on packing." With the help of Frank he proceeded to pull out a large tote bag. "Don't worry, I can lift this myself." It was clear he was struggling but after quickly fiddling with his MOVA that no longer became the case. "I halved the gravity right around me so this isn't much of a problem anymore."

Franklin went in for a hug that Alphonse quickly reciprocated. "Good luck, Al. I'm proud of you. You're really going places. Mostly literally." They soon broke the hug and said their goodbyes before Alphonse walked off towards where the Glory Model 7 was supposed to be stationed.

It was a short walk and finding the place was easy. It was hard to not find an impressive ferry-class space ship. When finally close he looked up and down. Taking in every detail he could of the ship and then looking back at the blueprints downloaded onto his MOVA. "Yep, there's no denying it alright. That's the Glory Model 7. What a beauty too. It's going to be a good three years." He quickly found a bench to take a seat on. He plopped his tote bag onto the ground and turned off the gravity application. He was still somewhat early but he noticed that at least one person seemed to have arrived. A young highly attractive female probably about his age and since she just seems to be waiting around there as well it'd be highly likely that she'll be a crew mate. It'd be proper manners for Alphonse to introduce himself to her but that definitely wasn't going to happen.

Kakashi Hatake · January 16, 2014

Nothing could be heard as gentle beams of light showed through the blinds of a dark room. A fairly small
room that could be described as a 'single man's pad', but it wasn't a single man who stayed here, but a
single woman at the early age of 31, who has just opened her eyes to greet the day. Her alarm clock goes
off with a steady, electronic ring for a few seconds until she reaches out from her heavily blanketed bed
to turn it off, triggering the radio built in which began to play a rather old song--
almost knocking it into the floor-- and brushing the blankets away to lean herself up and lay her feet on
the floor. Siping her eyes, she looked across the room into the small, connected bathroom to see herself
in the mirror. She silently scoffs at herself-- at how unruly her hair is and how lazy her expression is.
Standing up, she grabs a dark colored top from the nearby dresser and walks into the bathroom to put on
some clothes that were at least half-decent, closing the door behind herself. Moments later, she opens
said door and walks into the small, slightly messy kitchen, with a yawn.

The woman continues her morning routine as she opens her silver refrigerator and pulls out a carton of eggs,
a half-gallon of milk, and small chunk of steak from several nights before and she began to prepare the feast.
Cracking two eggs into a pot, and placing the steak into the microwave as she stood and listened to the sissle
of the eggs and the sounds of birds from her kitchen window. Minutes later, her eggs and steak were ready.
She reached into the microwave to grab the plate as she slightly burns herself on the plate, reminding her
to grab a mit first. Using a spatula, she scoops the eggs onto the plate and she sits down at her small
table and begins to eat, drinking the milk straight from the carton. While eating, she notices a small, crumpled
piece of yellow paper sitting on her table that she looks at for a moment before smirking and brushing it into the
floor before she finishes with her champion breakfast. Standing up, she takes her plate to the sink, stepping on
the paper, and runs water over the plate before going back into her room too really get ready for the day.

An Hour Later

"So today's the day, huh, Mori?" asked a rather old man from the side of the street as the woman, Moreu,
passed. "Yeah, old man, today's the day." she replied with a rather picturesque smile. She put her hands
into the pockets of her red, leather jacket as she walked past the giant buildings and the almost uncountable
number of people. Even at a generally early time, the streets were flush with people coming and going.
Inside the grand city, people lived their lives, with very few truly thinking about the world as it is.
The beautiful and sharp styles of technology everywhere and the size of it all. Moreu definitely wasn't
thinking about anything like that. Instead, her mind was on the task at hand: finding her way to the ship
known as the Glory Model 7. She was about to start her 3-year journey across the stars. A journey which she
did not exactly want to go on for this task was given to her by someone higher up on the food chain-- someone
who doesn't exactly like her, but that didn't matter anymore because she was given an order-- one she was highly
advised to follow. She soon arrived at the docks where she found the large ship, the Glory Model 7. She was
almost caught up in the sheer sight of it when she noticed two people who looked like they were expecting something.

"You guys here for the thing?" she asked the two aloud as she gestured towards the ship and stood by the woman in the coat.

.:Blu:. · January 17, 2014

Riegelmann Boardwalk, Dock 4-B: standing resolute in all of its - no pun intended - glory is the Glory Model 7. Resting absolutely still and immovable upon its wheel-less landing gears - three in total - it blocked the sun; casting a huge shadow on the carbon steel and cement-reinforced asphalt platform. An old, but no less reliable, mid-class starship, the Glory has experienced its fair share of hardships out in the vast darkness of space. The "scars" and "bruises" that cover the entirety of its naked body bespeak the ship's history; each one has its own little story to tell, if only someone would listen. And there is someone who does: Elric Malcolm - its owner and captain of over a decade. Although he isn't the original owner of the Glory, Elric is possibly the only man alive who can tell of its history in nearly its entirety. He is a man who listens to his ship; cares for it - loves it. And his ship has rewarded his love with years of invaluable service. Sure it has its problems, but what ship doesn't? It's still flying strong and that's thanks to one very important factor - a factor that any respectable captain knows by heart. But there is no time to dwell on such things at the moment.

One member of Captain Malcolm's crew has just arrived at the docking point: a young woman in her mid-twenties dressed in a notable fur-trimmed coat with luscious, flowing light-blue hair. Leta Darnell - as seen on her application that she had sent to Malcolm's MOVA several weeks prior to today – she is a mercenary for hire. Her looks definitely doesn't fit her job description but times are tough out there in the Black. If one can find a job, they'd best take it and if she can do as she promised, it'll be all the better for Malcolm and the expedition. She had arrived a bit earlier than was expected of her and so she found herself temporarily alone - well, if she doesn't count the people at the other docks anyway. Even the captain, himself, was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, it wasn't much longer until other members of the crew began arriving. The second of which, after Leta, is a young man of about the same age named Alphonse Cassidy. The mechanic of the Glory, Alphonse sure dressed the part what with all his accessories - all of which fully functional and serve important purposes - and the tool belt. Yup, he is a bonafide mechanic alright - tried and true.

The next person to arrive is one Veronica Monroe or, as she prefers to be called, Moreu. A thirty-one-year-old woman clad in form-fitting red faux-leather, she is a fairly attractive woman with black hair that, under the sunlight, reflects a brilliant blue; complimenting her sapphire eyes. Unlike the other two, Alphonse and Leta, Moreu doesn't have a designated position amongst the crew just yet but with her combat skills and history within the IU police force, it'd be easy to imagine her as a mercenary. She had approached Alphonse and Leta to ask if they were part of the upcoming expedition. Right after she had asked that, a petite figure can be seen making its way around the ship - onto the side where the others are standing. A blonde-haired maiden with a calm and curious expression brushed her hands along the scratches and dents of the Glory. It's as if she could "feel" the ship's history very much like its captain can. "I'm here for the 'thing'." she replied before turning her head to face the others. "I'm Lucy: the systems engineer." she said with her serene-sounding voice. She dressed very neatly in her white and blue space uniform. The attire, itself, looked very similar to that of Moreu's except it is entirely zipped up and even more form-fitting as if the uniform was nearly part of her.

Not long after, another member of the Glory's crew arrived. This one was a fella of blonde hair as well - dirty blonde to be exact - dressed in a brown, military-esque pilot uniform with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. Uniquely, he wore a short-sleeved, blue-and-green Hawaiian shirt on top his uniform, unbuttoned. He is the ship's Main - and at the moment, only - Pilot: Bradshaw Lindi; he prefers to be called "Lindi" as opposed to his given name which he doesn't particularly likes. With a suitcase full of his personal belongings inside held in his left hand, he walked up to the group and stood next to Alphonse. Lindi quickly took to admiring the Glory 7. His eyes gradually and methodically scanned the ship starting from the ground up. He whistled and said leisurely, "She is a thing of beauty."

"It's just a ship. As long as it flies, I don't quite care what it looks like." a rough-and-tough, masculine voice came from behind Lindi. As he looked back to see the owner of the voice, Lindi was met with an amazingly tall and muscular individual carrying four huge cases; whatever is in the case looks to be incredibly heavy but the muscular man handled each one with incredible ease. The man, himself, wore a desert-colored, short-sleeved T-shirt tucked into wheat-colored cargo pants held in place by a black belt; a black gun holster was strapped onto the belt and, surely enough, there was gun cradled within. On his hands, the man wore grey and brown-colored, fingerless gloves that are noticeably worn. Suffice to say, this man is a mercenary: Ashley Hays is his name.

Noticing the large cases he was carrying, Lindi decided to offer some help. "Hey, you need help with those, big guy?" he asked with a finger pointed to the cases.

"No." Ash flatly rejected.

"Fair enough. I'm Bradshaw Lindi but I just go by Lindi." the pilot introduced himself to not only the male mercenary but the others as well.

"Name's Ashley Hays." Ash replied back.

"Ashley? Isn't that a girl's-" Before Lindi could complete his sentence, he was abruptly interrupted when Ash gave him a death stare and snarled at him - similarly to a dog. "Right. Never mind." Lindi quickly recanted before looking to Alphonse and jokingly whispered, "Did he just snarl?"

"I go by Ash." the muscular merc stated.

"So, Ash, what do you have in those big cases? Oh, let me guess: cooking ware, 'cause you're the cook." Lindi joked.

"Guns." Ash replied plainly.

Lindi was taken back a bit after hearing Ash's answer. "G- Guns?" He blinked and paused to let it sink in. "Why do you need so many guns? You planning to take on an entire Kyrosian army?" Lindi asked.

"I packed just what is needed. 'Sides, if I was fightin' Kyrosians, I'd pack kettle corn. Watchin' 'em dumb hillbillies blow 'emselves up is just 'bout the funniest thing this side of the 'Verse." Ash proclaimed.

"Yeah but be careful. They might suicide you to death." Lindi facetiously cautioned.

Kyng's Old Account · January 17, 2014

Hearing the analytical words of Alphonse, Leta jumped a little from being startled, not having been paying too much attention to her surroundings while lost in patient inner thought. With him addressing the ship by its name, Leta assumed he'd be a crew member of the vessel. The instance he stated the three years, pen hit paper - he was a definite crew mate on this vessel. With that, Leta turned her head to the side. Spotting the individual, who was adorned with the gear of nothing less than a mechanic, she smiled softly. "I suppose it is a beautiful ship. I can only assume the interior will be comfortable, for such a lengthy voyage that is." With that, Leta curiously glanced over the young man. "You seem dressed for quite the job - are you going to be maintaining the Glory 7?"

Soon after, through taking a deep breath, Leta casted her vision back over the ship, though it was not long until another voice spoke up. A woman, who gestured something of the ship, stood by her. It was fairly safe to say that she, too, was a member of the crew. Nodding softly and silently, Leta then casted her gaze over to the horizon of the boardwalk. Another individual was approaching and, then glancing over her MOVA, she checked and spotted it was roughly time for everyone to show up. It would explain the sudden arrival of both the tool-clad fellow and the red-donned madam before her. Returning, however, to Leta's perspective, she spotted a blonde-haired woman who, too, stated she was part of Titan Pharmaceutical's expedition. Soon after, she introduced herself as Lucy, the System Engineer.

A dirty-blonde individual in what Leta could only attribute as similar yet different attire to Lucy turned up - staggeringly, with a Hawaiian Shirt on top of his uniform. Quite the style of peacocking, Leta'd remember him at least. Carefully watching him move over to the seated mechanic, he whistled in admiration of the Glory. Leta was to take this as a cue to resume contemplation, but a gun-clad macho-man came in with a number of cases. The gun instantly drew Leta's attention, but it was likely he was another hired gun though, in truth, Leta's position was somewhat slightly different to a simple mercenary's. Sure enough, they both had one thing in common: they could kick ass, and damn hard at that. Whatever the case, he flat-out refused assistance in carrying his clutter of cases.

Bradshaw Lindi introduuced him with a preferred manner of address. The mercernary, Ashley Hays, spoke his own name followed by a scowl at Lindi. Leta was, herself, somewhat surprised he was carrying so many cases, all of them artillery. The two soon shared a moment on Kyrosians, the comments of which did make Leta chuckle on the inside - boy are Kyrosians stupid - but she turned herself away from the ship and to the rest. "Should we be expecting any others?" She asked, curiously. Though there were quite the set of characters already amassed, this was a big ship, and a nice one at that.

Soon after she then took another glance at the entirety of those gathered. It seemed that the girl clad in red, Lucy and Lindi had a similar attired, though Ash's, the mechanic's and her own attired starkly contrasted against those. Putting one to another, Leta then asked "Is there a particular uniform, or code of dress we're to follow? I hope I haven't missed a memo or something..."

Hotaru987 · January 18, 2014

It was going to be one of those days. Is what Riley thought as she walked down the street, rolling her two small suitcases behind her, and making her way to the docks. Another check of her watch and she frowned. She was probably late. It wouldn't surprise her if she was the last one to arrive. Even attempting to leave early from her home didn't help, as after having walked 20 minutes she suddenly started thinking about the shoes in her closet. Were they in a straight line? Or was the fourth pair slightly poking out? Should she go back? No it was probably straight...But what if it wasn't? What if that pair was slightly off. Even just a hair off would ruin her entire day. She was sure she checked it, as she did everything in her home. Making sure everything was in it's proper place, but that darned 4th shoe pair was making her worry. Knowing that this dilemma would be on her mind for the next 3 - she shuddered at the number - years it would be on her mind.

So she turned around and made the walk back home. All the while thinking about the horrible number 3, which would be the amount of years she would be in space. That was only her first set back. After checking her shoes - which she found out she was only imagining it - she began her walk to her destination. However, she soon came to a street sign which normally wouldn't be an issue, but of course this street number had a 3 - another shudder - in it. So of course the only logical decision would be a detour which would add more time onto her walk.

Her third stop was when she heard some groaning from an alleyway to her right. Thinking someone may be hurt, she followed the noise not even considering any possible danger. There she found a man bleeding out, apparently having been robbed as an empty wallet was on the ground in front of him, which Riley assumed belonged to the man. After helping the man with some basic treatment, and waiting for the ambulance to arrive so he could be further treated, she left. Though with this third stop she needed another detour. Riley never did anything in 3's. That and she should probably find some place to wash her hands. So, she decided to take quick food break, indulging herself in a quick salad and orange juice.

Finally, after a mini-journey of her own, she arrived at the docks noticing that quite a few people were already there. She took notice that her choice of clothing seemed to drastically stick out compared to some. What with a black button-down shirt, tucked into a long skirt and green tie. Not to mention her white coat, which seemed to be a typical staple for those in her profession. Either way, she walked closer to the group an inviting smile on her face. "Morning everyone, hope I'm not too late." Riley took this time to admire the Glory Model 7. The ship which would be her home for the next...Uh...insert appropriate number here. She truly hated even acknowledging the evil number. Well, regardless of her weirdness, it couldn't take away from the awe she felt from being in the presence of the Glory Model 7. While this certainly wasn't her first trip into space, this ship was impressive.

.:Blu:. · January 18, 2014

It didn't take long before the ex-colonel had made his way to Riegelmann Boardwalk. At the front entrance, he slipped in cautiously while the gatekeeper was busy dealing with a group of men; judging by their uniforms, the men appear to be workers at the docks. Despite the ex-colonel's attempt at being inconspicuous, several security cameras managed to capture footage of him sneaking past the security gate. But even then it didn't matter. Before making his way inside the docks, the ex-colonel had managed to tamper with the communication system of the security towers using an illegal software stored on his MOVA. The guards won't be able to contact the authorities until the maintenance staff gets things running again and since Riegelmann Boardwalk is such a big place, the roaming security teams will have quite the difficult time finding the ex-colonel who, keep in mind, is a seasoned criminal. To assure he wouldn't be found before he could have a chance to sneak onto a ship, the ex-colonel moved across the docks while hiding behind large crates as a sort of cover - not really the most effective hiding spots but they'll do. Looking far ahead, the ex-colonel could say a vast array of ships to sneak aboard.

Unsurprisingly, most of the ships are carrier-class built specifically for transporting cargo. They are a smaller variant of starships manned by a limited crew. They sound perfect for the ex-colonel's situation, right? Actually, it is quite the opposite. The cargo bay of these carriers are not designed to be pressurized so that they can accommodate any human presence during flight; or in other words, the ex-colonel will find himself dying of asphyxiation once the ship ascends beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Plus, carriers are known to be regularly flagged down by IU cruisers to have their cargo checked by scanners. In that event, they'll catch the ex-colonel but, then again, it wouldn't matter as he'll already be dead from the first issue. No, what he needs is a ferry-class ship - a transport ship for both cargo and people. And that's when he saw it: the Glory 7 - one of the most beautiful things he's seen in a while. "Shiny..." he said; the word poured out of his mouth like sweet molasses. It reminded him of a similar ship he had the pleasure of captaining a few years ago right after the last war he had participated in. This was it - this was the ship he's been looking for to carry him off this planet.

Before he could make his way to the ship however, he noticed a slightly burly man heading his way. The ex-colonel acted quickly as he casually leaned against the crates he had previously used for cover. As the burly man stopped by, the ex-colonel gave a casual hello to which the burly man politely returned the greeting. "Good day, isn't it? Sun's out, sky's blue, and I'm about to head off on a three-year expedition in the Black." the burly man revealed in a friendly tone. It was then made clear who this man was: Elric Malcolm; not that the ex-colonel knew anyways.

"Is that so? Work-related I suppose? Not much work that isn't fancy or complicated right here in the capital so lookin' to the stars is the only viable option." the ex-colonel stated.

"Precisely. Damn posh and pretty society kicks us regular folks out of work here on the central planet. Man's gotta eat even if it means resortin' to less honorable methods. I'm just lucky Titan came along with a job." Malcolm explained. "So what about you?" he asked.

The ex-colonel contemplated his response and then proceeded to chuckle slightly. "I aim to disobey." he replied. Hearing that, Malcolm also produced a similar, contemplative chuckle. "So, you got a ship?" the ex-colonel questioned.

"I do," Malcolm paused as he pointed to the Glory 7 in the distance, "that's her right there. Glory, I call her; she answers. One of the best, goddamn ships this side of the 'Verse if I do say so myself." he proclaimed proudly.

The ex-colonel instinctively raised an eyebrow hearing what he heard from Malcolm. He then proceeded to question Malcolm about the people waiting beside the ship. "Those people there, they your crew?"

"I suppose so. Never actually met any one of 'em yet. 'Bout to in a few." Malcolm revealed before shifting his eyes toward a shack nearby. He then looked back at the ex-colonel. "Well, it's been a pleasure talkin' with ya and all but I gotta get my things ready for leave. Good luck, disobeyer." With that, Malcolm headed for the nearby shack. As he left, the ex-colonel stood there with arms crossed. He was contemplating what he should do next. He looked to Glory and the crew that was awaiting their captain to show up; he also contemplated every single thing Malcolm had said to him in their brief but meaningful conversation. Not long after, the ex-colonel had decided on his plan: he is going to steal the Glory 7 and use it to escape Earth under the guise of the ship's owner, Elric Malcolm. From what Malcolm had said, the ex-colonel figured that Malcolm, like himself, also has a criminal history - although he was better at keeping it a secret than the ex-colonel - and so stealing from Malcolm wouldn't really affect his conscience much. So after a bit of waiting, the ex-colonel crept slowly towards the shack. Hiding just right outside, the ex-colonel peaked in and noticed Malcolm had his back turn. He then proceeded to sneak inside discreetly and without making a single, audible sound. That is not until he was right behind Malcolm in which he then had drawn his revolver and pointed it at the back of Malcolm's head; cocking the revolver to notify Malcolm.

"Squeak or twitch and I'll send a bullet through the back of your skull." the ex-colonel warned. "Life gets real simple from now on. All you need to do is follow my instructions. Now, slowly put your hands up." With that direction, Malcolm gradually held his hand up until they were at head level. "Trust me when I say this, Captain: this ain't nothin' personal." Immediately after saying that, the ex-colonel gave Malcolm a good whack on the back of his head with his revolver; knocking the burly captain unconscious. As he tumbled onto the ground, the ex-colonel wasted no time in searching through his personal effects and finding several key items: some personal documents which can be altered by the ex-colonel's MOVA and a document file on Malcolm's MOVA - the latter of which contains details of the three-year expedition Malcolm had mentioned. After reading through the file, the ex-colonel turned his attention to the personal documents. Using the Documentation Forger feature on his MOVA, the ex-colonel edited details of the documents to his liking. The most important piece of document is Malcolm's Identity Card which the ex-colonel altered so that it was now his card essentially. "Pleasure to meet you, Elric Malcolm." the ex-colonel uttered to himself as he gazed at the newly-altered Identity Card in his hand.

By now, the departure time had passed by a couple of minutes; not that it was Malcolm's fault anyways, he was too busy being robbed at gun point to do anything about it. At Dock 4-B, the crew members waited around in silence until Leta noticed the disparity in their clothes and posed the question of whether they had a certain dress code to follow or not. "Not that I know of. Then again, I've only ever worked with vagrants and just overall nasty people who could never seem to tell the difference between a bar of soap and a stick of C4." Lindi replied.

"Speakin' of dress, just why is you wearin' that colorful dishcloth? This ain't no vacation." Ash said, referring to Lindi's Hawaiian shirt.

"I figured we would stop on a tropical piece of alien paradise somewhere along the way. A little relaxing, ya know? Mojitos, the ocean, a walk on the beach just right as a star is setting in the horizon." Lindi described.

"I would've never pictured you as a man with such 'romantic' imaginings." Lucy said with a bit of curiosity.

"Ah, well looks can be deceiving." Lindi replied.

"Not as deceivin' as a dirty, rotten... deceiver." Ash had trouble finding any clever response.

"Man's got a way with words." Lindi teased.

"Shut it." Ash retorted.

Just then, the last member of the crew - aside from the late captain - arrived at the rendezvous spot. An intellectual according to her way of dress that included a brilliant white coat that made her stood out from the rest of people in the docks. She is the doctor of the crew: Riley Lockheart. Her job is easily one of the more impressive jobs amongst the crew. Someone like Ash has an easy time taking a life if he was paid for it but to save a life? Well, that's what makes someone like Riley so special - other than her unusual mannerisms such as her fear of the number three of course. Riley quickly made her way to the others and greeted them. She had a positive aura about her that could easily rubbed off on any one of the crew; now if only it would rubbed off on that grouchy mercenary, Ash. Riley had expressed her hopes of not being too late and causing the others to wait, unaware that the captain was even later than herself. But immediately after her arrival, the captain finally made his appearance as well. Unbeknownst to the crew, however, this captain is simply a thief looking to take advantage of the situation after having knocked out the real captain and stolen his documents.

"So this is my crew, huh?" a voice - belonging to the fake Elric Malcolm - snuck up on everybody.

"You the Captain?" Ash asked.

"In the flesh. Get your things on board. We gotta make up for lost time." Elric ordered before walking past the crew to a control panel on the Glory. Scanning his modified Identity Card, the ship recognized it as the real Elric Malcolm and opened its hatches; allowing for him and the others to enter. The hatches led directly into the cargo bay - an open area of all metal interior with two sets of staircases in the very back that leads to the upper deck of the ship; the ship's rover can also be seen in the right corner of the cargo bay. "Pick your rooms and get settled in." Elric told his crew as he headed up the stairs. He moved quickly while rapidly scanning the area to familiarize himself with the ship but he did it discreetly so the crew wouldn't notice - quite clever of him. At the top of the stair cases is a metal bridge with entrances on both ends leading to the shuttle rooms and another staircase connected to the bridge led up into a huge hallway. That hallway is where the crew will find their bunks, the engine room, and individual male-and-female shower rooms. Beyond that point is the medical bay, kitchen, dining room, common area, etc. Finally, at the very forefront of the ship is the cockpit.

Stopping on the bridge, Elric looked down towards the crew who had just barely entered the ship. "Which one of you's the pilot?" Elric asked.

"That would be me: Lindi." he said positively.

"I'll be needin' you in the cockpit as soon as possible." Elric said before heading up the stairs to the upper deck. To the crew, their captain seemed a bit cold and demanding. Of course, that was only because he wanted to leave Earth in a hurry - before the authorities showed up.

Wasting no time, Ash headed for the stairs and to the upper deck in an attempt to pick out the best room he could find. Walking passed Lindi, Ash forcefully bumped him aside and didn't even bother with an apology. "Ow!" Lindi fussed; it had less to do with any feeling of pain as it had more to do with getting the jerk's attention. Unfortunately, Ash kept walking and ignored the indiscretion completely. "Looks like we're becoming fast friends already." Lindi sarcastically said.

Desu the Blue Nerd · January 18, 2014

He may have been less early than he initially thought. If the pressure to start a conversation with one female wasn't enough another one appears and attempts to start conversation with both of them. Of course it was done in a rather roundabout manner but it was an attempt nonetheless. One in which Alphonse pretended not to notice by continuing to look invested in the Glory Model 7's schematics. It really didn't take long for him to actually be. Time passed and more people showed up but of course Alphonse hadn't noticed. Not even when one of them spoke directly to him. Eventually everybody had arrived and the captain wasted no time getting everybody into the ship.

It was the noise from the door's hydraulics that finally snapped Al out of his trance. When hearing them he thought to himself, "That noise. The doors to the Glory 7. It's not exactly how I imagined it sounding. Seems a little slow. Rust seems highly unlikely with the alloy the ship is made out of. I'll have to check to see if a rodent got stuck in there later. They absolutely love these kinds of tourist traps. A little oil is more likely needed though." He almost got into another trance thinking of such details as even the brand of lubricant to use when it popped up in his mind that if the door was open they'd be entering inside the ship and soon departing. Alphonse jumped up from his seat and reactivated his MOVA's gravitational field in order to lift his tote bag.

It seemed everybody else was just beginning to enter. Nobody had just yet entered the ship but they certainly were about to. Realizing he probably missed introductions in another one of his typical off the rails train of thought he took this small chance to take some observation of the crew. There was the two women who arrived directly before and after.Already taking note of the first one before he glanced at the second with more thought. She looked to be a few years older with hair that looked almost blue. She had a red jacket likely made of a fake leather. Looked sort of like the serious type but the informal greeting earlier seemed to contradict that. Then again, women are complicated. There was a big guy. Really hard to notice. Really, he's just next because who wouldn't notice him? Takes up a lot of eye space. He was also obviously strapped and those cases likely just held even more guns. A mercenary no doubt. One should feel bad for the guy who'd make a really bad impression to a guy who looked like that and was as well armed as him when you were gonna be living with him for three years. Then there was the guy who seemed to be a mix ofb miltary pilot and gay porn star all rolled up into a bundle. He just had that sort of face to Al. Not really sure why. He hadn't seen any such videos his entire life. Or at least none he hadn't possibly blocked out of his mind at a younger age. Parents should really hide certain DVDs better. Anyway, there were two other women now. Of course both were also as young looking as the first two although age isn't really something that should be commented on much with women...maybe...I dunno. With the white lab coat and tie it was made obvious which one of them would be a doctor. Finally, there was the guy barking orders to hurry up and get in the ship. The captain of course. Alphonse felt obliged to do so and made no more hesitation to get into the ship. It was when the doors closed behind him that he actually realized the math. Including himself, there were four guys and four girls. A one to one ratio of genders. He silently mumbled to himself, "This is going to be a socially awkward and emotionally distant three years..."

Only a few minutes passed and Alphonse found himself in the room that would be called his for the next three years. He didn't really think he'd be using it that much but regardless of that it was still his and he might as well take note of the basics. The room wasn't large but he had made sure to make it known he wouldn't need much out of his living quarters. He had packed a sleeping bag after all and most nights were likely to be spent in the engine room or even more likely the cooler janitorial closet right next door. Either way, this room might as well be storage for his personal belongings. A closet could be seen just a little bit past the the door to the right which he might hang a spare space suit in, another being kept in the janitorial closet of course, with most of his clothes being kept in a dresser by the bed while some were to be brought down just in case. The bed was large enough for one person and that should prove to be enough. Across the room from the bed stood a large desk mostly built into wall. If anything this will prove to be the most useful accommodation this room had to offer in the instances he was up there. For now though, he wanted to quickly unpack and get down to the engine room. The Glory Model 7 would be in flight soon and he wanted to hear its engine purr.

Hotaru987 · January 18, 2014

It wasn't long after Riley arrived that the captain, Eric Malcolm, made his appearance. Upon his arrival he wasted no time getting everyone aboard the ship. He told the newly assembled crew to pick out their rooms, before asking who their pilot was. The pilot was a young man named Lindi, who oddly wore a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt over a military pilot like outfit. Strange if you asked Riley but she wasn't the type to judge others. It seemed Eric was eager to the the ship out of port and start their mission. Not that Riley could blame him. She was pretty excited about finding a new planet. Who knows what she could find. Better medicine, or maybe better treatment for certain ailments. Just the thought of it made her want to take off even faster. While lost in her thoughts a large man, who was carrying quite a bit of things was the first to leave. Probably in search of a room. In doing so he bumped Lindi aside, quite harshly in fact.

"Looks like we're becoming fast friends already." Lindi sarcastically said.

Riley walked up beside him, "I'm sure it'll get better. We all just need some time to adjust to one another." She smiled, "Try not to take to long to pick a room or you'll be stuck with the worse one."

Following her own advice, she excused herself before heading to find a room. It didn't take to long, and she was very happy with her choice. It wasn't small enough to make her feel cramped but it wasn't large either. She placed her suitcases on her bed, to set up her room. Her suitcases mostly had her clothes and an extra pair of boots. A small medical bag, and a few personal items. Nothing too fancy, and the less things she had here the less she would be worrying over it later. Besides her main role was as a doctor, and the medical bay was probably already properly stocked. Though there would be one thing she needed to take care of before she started. Fumbling around in the suitcase she pulled out a disinfecting spray, and a purple rag. Gotta get this place suitable for living. This is where she spent her first half hour of the trip. In her room scrubbing away until she felt comfortable enough that it was clean. Promptly ignoring anything within this time period, even the launch.

"There, it's perfect."

Once her room was to her liking, she took to the task of hanging her clothes. "Alright, this one goes here. Then this shirt, then-oh wait. How did that get there? Thus should have been first. Silly me." To anyone else who was watching would have saw that all three shirts looked exactly the same. However, to Riley each one looked different and belong in a certain order. Next she went to the dressers and placed her pants in them in stacks of two. Next she laid out her numerous colored ties. "Alright, ROY.G.BIV. Red goes here. Then red with, polka dots. After is orange...then orange with polka dots...." That continued until all her ties were lined out neatly. Feeling accomplished with what she got done she placed out the final pieces to completing her room. A picture frame of her family, her contacts with solution, extra glasses, and glasses cleaning supplies.

"Ah, excellent." Having completed her immediate task she suddenly realize she didn't know the names of any of her companions. Well other than the captain, and Lindi. Though the latter was only because she overheard his name. Due to her lateness she probably missed introductions. "I should remedy that quickly. After all we'll be seeing a lot of each for these next few years."

Kyng's Old Account · January 19, 2014

Nodding with a friendly smile to Lindi, Leta thanked him for putting her concerns to rest regarding attire. He did make a good point - from what appeared to be a rag-tag bundled bunch of people, how could uniform be expected? Nonetheless she discovered something about Lindi in that he seemed to work with some unfriendly characters over his past. In a contemplative frown, Leta briefly detached herself from the situation as she had an inner monologue - she was very curious, incredibly so, about Lindi now. Maybe he'd have been involved with shady operatives before? Truth be told, he didn't look the type at all, but Leta was considering to, once profiled enough, investigate Lindi's background in depth. She couldn't risk lacking sources of potential threats to this mission or the country in the form of Lindi's past.

Soon after the final member sans the captain arrived. She wasn't questioned her name, but Leta wasn't hesitant to ask her. She was certain the lab-coat clad girl would be identified soon enough - though more than most, Leta was quite stunned at how young she looked. Maybe she had a technique, but for any kind of doctor Lta did expect, well, someone with wrinkles from the torment of medicine school. She looked at least ten years younger than her actual date and, to Leta's surprise surely to come, Riley was actually older than her. If Leta knew that, she'd be deadset on discovering how, well, she kept her face looking so youthful. There was no doubt that a wee glimmer of envy twinkled in the spy's eyes.

The captain arrived, Elric Malcom - quite dashing to say the least. While Leta was suspicious that no-one was given the slightest info about each other, save the name of the captain, her worries of working with threats diminished. How ironic this was when none could know the truth of their captain's identity? Nontheless, the Captain had immediately ordered them to get to their own individual rooms which Leta nodded to silently, boarding the ship as soon as she could. While the corridors weren't as large as she'd assumed, that implied room space was just even more, or the ship was heavily armoured. Either way, Leta was content with this through a little grasp on optimism and assumption, though we all know that assumption makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me."

The captain addressed the pilot of the ship at the bridge, which Leta happily let by as she took ahead to find herself a room. Ahead of Ash for the while she plucked herself a room as was quite content with. A lot of empty space and a bit dusty, but the room had a window which, quite frankly, already made this voyage turn out to be better. A standardised bed to be expected with a small cupboard - Leta really didn't need much room - and a desk and chair. It served the purpose, but what Leta loved was, well, the space. There was just plenty of free space, it just wailed opportunity. Nontheless Leta calmed herself and got straight to unpacking. Setting uniforms and her spair coats into the cupboard, she took off her own fur coat what with the ship bound to be fairly warm as it is.

In removing her coat she spotted her MOVA, reminding her to contact mission control - and so, moving to and locking the door, she sat herself upon the bed and immediately contacted her representative at UI:6. A moustached man with a prominent scar responded, face-cam. "Ah, Leta - how's things going?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I've reached the ferry, and have myself a room." Leta responded, before waving the MOVA around to show off the place.

"Very nice!" The man replied with a chuckle. "You've got some space - you sure you'll use it all?"

"No, I'm not..." Leta thought with a frown. "I'll lend the space to the others if they need it though."

"Yeah, but wouldn't that be awkward?" The representative scratched the back of his head with a frown, not angry, merely considering circumstances. "If you're asleep and they need something, you'd probably break their necks or somethin-"

"That won't happen." Leta said with a serious scowl. "For crying out loud - I'm not some sort of cat who'll pounce at anyone who gets near me..."

"Yeah yeah, sure...Uncia~" The man teased.

With that Leta groaned and rolled her eyes. "I don't need this crap right now...I'll contact you shortly, please don't tease me about that." With a sigh she shut off her communications with the gentleman before laying back with a sigh. "Now I'm in a bad mood...urgh." Sitting up she simply decided to make her way out and on his way to find the captain - when she found her, if she even did, Leta'd simply stand to her and nod to him before introducing herself as Leta Darnell, a government representative for Titan Pharmaceuticals.

Kakashi Hatake · January 21, 2014

Though it seems like it was all gone past, seemingly the rest of the crew seemed to gather around the
ship and make their way inside. Moreu was just about the very last person to come aboard, despite being
one of the first to arrive. As she was coming on board, she noticed as the rather large man, Ashley,
bumped into the younger man and the girl in front of her, the one in the lab coat, stop to say something
to him. As Moreu passed the younger man, she patted his shoulder as if to say, "I got this." She sped up
her walking speed slightly only to bump into the arm of the larger man, pushing her way past him. She
turned around and apologized in a teasing manor and continued on her way onto the bridge to find the room
she'd call home. Slowly scanning each of the rooms as she passed by, they all looks generally similar but
they were all a bit too large for her liking. After all, she didn't bring anything extra onboard that would
take up space so she didn;t want to get anything with too much space.

Moreu finally came to a room that was rather small compared to the rest but was still pretty sizable.
"This is probably the best I'll get." groaned Moreu as the came in to claim the room as her own. This room
happened to be the one right across the hall from the rather busty, blue-haired woman who Moreu was folowing
behind after passing Ashley. She hadn't quite introduced herself yet, but before she had the chance, the woman
had made her way out of the room, heading down the hall, so she decided to get a real introduction later.
Not even taking the time to test out the bed, Moreu leaned against the door seal to watch the rest of the crew
find their rooms and to wait a moment. before making her way to her next destination, to meet teh captain.

.:Blu:. · January 21, 2014

"Huh. These'll do, I guess."

Elric stood in front of a small, opened closet full of shirts - all of which appears to be of the same style but with varying colors - with a curious look on his face. After boarding the ship, he soon found the Captain's Bunk and, seeing as how he's posing as Elric Malcolm, the ex-colonel decided to sate his curiosity by having a quick look inside. The room, itself, was nothing extraordinary; it's about the same size as any other crew bunk on board the Glory. In fact, the only difference seems to be a digital panel on the door that lists "Captain Elric Malcolm" in all blue letters. Aside from that, the interior of the room was decorated by an assortment of figurines and model starships manufactured from scrap metal. And there were a couple of pictures hung on the metal walls that showed the real Elric Malcolm - the ex-colonel would have to get rid of those later. For now, however, he needed the Glory out in open space already. Exiting the room, Elric made sure to lock it just in case anyone else got curious. With the other crew members still either boarding or unpacking, Elric headed to the cockpit to wait for his pilot.

Back at the ship's cargo bay, after Ash had roughly bumped Lindi aside, Riley was quick to comfort him, stating that they'll all soon adjust to one another. Lindi looked to her with an assuring smile. "Ahh, I'm sure it was just whacky fun." Lindi responded. After which, Moreu walked up to the two of and patted Lindi's shoulder while stating, "I got this," referring to the "Ash" situation just now. She then walked past the two of them and towards Ash with a bit of fever in his steps. As she walked away, Lindi just kept staring at her - his jaw almost dropped. Moreu playfully bumped into Ash's arm, forcing him to move aside while she passed him with only a teasing apology to respond to what had happened. Ash snarled, once more, but left it alone; he simply shook his head in displeasure and continued walking to the upper deck. "I think I'm in love." Lindi said nonchalantly in reference to Moreu before continuing on his way to find a room. Soon, all of the crew managed to find a respective room to call their own. On the left side of the halls are the rooms for: Alphonse, Riley, Leta, and Lindi. The right side of the halls has the rooms for: Elric, Moreu, Ash, and Lucy.

After tossing his small suitcase onto his bed, Lindi headed straight for the cockpit; choosing to unpack later. As he entered, he saw Elric leaning on a wall with his arms crossed; he prompted to greet the captain - from the tone of his voice, Lindi was ready and excited to take off. "Hey Cap'n." Lindi said before taking one of the pilot seats - the one reserved for the Main Pilot. Gazing at the ship's controls, Lindi's expression was a mixture of anticipation and just the tiniest hint of nervousness. "Man, I am so ready to get this beautiful, beautiful metal baby in space. Truth be told, this is my first time flying this model." Lindi stated.

"Really? That won't be a problem for you, will it?" Elric asked as he leaned off of the wall.

"Nah. This ship's old but it uses the standard ISM control scheme. I can have this thing doing flips if you give the order." Lindi confidently assured.

"Flyin' straight'll be plenty enough. Now let's get her in the air." Elric ordered.

"You got it." Lindi replied before switching on the power to the control console via several switches above him. Various screens displaying a multitude of vital information lit up; bringing a smirk to Lindi's face. "Just like Christmas lights." the pilot jested. Grabbing hold of a red handle on the dashboard panel, Lindi turned it to the right nearly ninety degrees and pushed it down - there was quite a bit of resistance on the handle. The Glory was finally ready to take flight. In the engine room, the huge engine that spanned the length of almost the entire room began rumbling; producing a beautiful mechanical purr. The sound of the engine reverberated throughout the ship for an initial few seconds before quieting down. Back in the cockpit, Lindi took hold of a black vinyl-wrapped lever - one of two - and pushed it forward; with that, the ship started to ascend off of the ground. Once it reached a suitable height, Lindi retracted the landing gears and wrapped both of his hands around the steering mechanism. Pushing it up and forward, the Glory took off at an angle towards space. Just standing there, Elric could tell that Lindi is quite the skilled pilot. Everything was running incredibly smooth.

"We'll break atmo in about two minutes." Lindi reported.

"Good. Once we get up there, engage warp travel and chart a course for the nearest dark zone." Elric directed.

Lindi was fairly surprised by the order. "Whoa, you want us to head for a dark zone? Cap, you do realize we'll be out of range of IU communications, right?" Lindi asked in attempt to make sense of the captain's orders.

"(Exactly.)" Elric thought before giving a totally different response. "First shipment's in two weeks and Titan wants at least five hundred plant samples. We can't afford to travel slow. Dark zones are shortcuts to the new planets so that's where we're headin'. Understand?" Elric asked.

"You're the captain." Lindi replied in compliance with Elric's orders. After nearly three minutes, the Glory 7 finally broke through the Earth's atmosphere and into open space. Looking back at the Earth, it is now a world surrounded by satellites and small IU command stations. It's as if Earth has added another layer on top of its atmosphere. This was it: the crew of the Glory 7 won't be seeing Earth again until three years later. With the speed at which the Glory was traveling, Earth soon became a distant image - a minuscule blue speck. Then it disappeared from sight completely; with its only reminder being a blip on the radar of the cockpit's control console but soon, that too, faded into nothing. In the engine room, Lucy stood in front of a floating screen display that had been projected out from several diodes on the wall. As the systems engineer, Lucy's usual responsibilities included making sure that all of the ship's non-motor-related systems are working properly. Motioning her right hand in several swipes, she flipped through various screens to check every little data and she did it at an alarmingly quick pace. One has to wonder if she can even read all that fast-moving information.

Furthermore, she hadn't blinked once while watching the information come and go - it was all a bit creepy. Finally, she stopped at one screen that displayed information on the most important system of all: life support. Life support must always be working properly because it regulated the pressure, atmosphere, oxygen levels - everything that kept the crew alive. Without life support, the crew would have to wear their spacesuits 24/7, or, until the spacesuits run out of air at least; in which case, they would die. "Life support functioning properly." she said to no one in particular. Suddenly, Lindi's voice came up on the comm system within the engine room. "Engine Room, this is the Cockpit speaking. We're gonna need you to engage the warp travel now." Seeing as how the Glory 7 is an older model starship, the warp travel feature on the engine must be manually activated by the mechanic before the pilot can actually use it; Alphonse would also need to engage the dark energy force field as well. So after Al took care of that, Lindi was finally able to engage warp travel. Looking out of the windows in front of them, Elric and Lindi could see the effects of warp travel - mainly that space itself began to distort.

After making some final adjustments and charting a course towards the nearest dark zone - as ordered to by Elric - Lindi finally engaged the autopilot feature. He could now relax. "Good work." Elric said to Lindi. He then reached for a transceiver above him and spoke over the comm system to the entire ship. "This is the captain speakin'. Gather up in the common area in about three minutes." The announcement could be heard by everyone throughout the ship. As ordered by the captain, within three minutes, the entire crew had gathered in the common area; awaiting the captain's presence. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as the captain soon entered the room from the narrow hall in front of them. Stopping in front of the crew, Elric looked around - his eyes gazing at each one of their faces.

"Welcome aboard ladies and menfolk. As you may have already known, I am your captain: Elric Malcolm. Now, we're here because the folks at Titan have given us a job - one that ain't exactly easy. Very few people are brave enough to do what we're willin' to do for a decent pay. I ain't gonna lie to you. The Black's a dangerous place; ain't no room for the weak out here. You may have heard stories but nothin' compares to the actual thing; not a mite close. For us, however, we're embarkin' to the unknown. There ain't no stories for what's not known. We're goin' in blind, people. But know this: as long as you're on my ship, I'll have your back even if you ain't got mine's. So I say to hell with the 'Verse. Let it throw whatever it likes at me. But I'm damn sure ain't bowin' out until we touch Earth again. For now, welcome home, crew."

After that rousing speech, Elric switched to the topic of introductions. Each one of the crew took turns introducing themselves to the rest of them.

"Well, I think most of you know me by now. I'm Bradshaw Lindi: your designated pilot for the next few years. Although, I would prefer to be called Lindi." the pilot officially introduced himself.

"My name is Lucy. I'll be your Systems Engineer for the duration of this expedition." Lucy introduced.

"Name's Ashley Hays for ya'll that's wonderin'. I'd like bein' referred to as Ash though." Ash introduced.

"Ashley? Now ain't that a girl's name?" Elric asked out of curiosity.

Hearing that for the second time today, Ash, frustrated, gave a quick glance away from the others before looking back at the captain. "D'shure gwai Kyros- It's also a boy's name." he said. The first few foreign words are in Keplen: a language of the outer planets. These particular words are part of a larger phrase but these mean, "Motherless sons of Kyros." Although Ash didn't exactly target anyone with the insult.

By the time the crew had finished learning each other's names, the time for supper had arrived and so they took to the dining room which was located right beside the kitchen. A single long, wooden table is the centerpiece of the small dining room. Surrounding it are ten chairs made of cheap metal and plastic. Hardly the comfiest of furnishings but the crew probably wouldn't mind too much. On the table, itself, are a few food items that had just been cooked up by a few volunteers from the crew. The essentials were there: protein, vegetables, and carbs - nothing fancy and the ingredients weren't exactly the freshest but with Titan's funding, that was as good as they were going to get. The highlight at the table was definitely the bowl of fresh apples. Whoever brought them on board is a saint as far as this supper goes. Most of the crew had taken their seats around the table - Elric sat at one end of the table - save from Ash who had just finished cooking up some potatoes. Walking to the table, Ash placed his dish down.

"Eat up. It's my special recipe." Ash said with a genuinely excited smile on his face. He then took his seat on the right side of the table.

"Oh, I love potatoes. Maybe 'cause I'm part Irish." Lindi proclaimed though no one was sure if he was joking or not. Stabbing into a piece with his fork, he placed the entire thing into his mouth and chewed vigorously; ignoring the heat. But almost immediately after, the pace of his chewing slowed dramatically.

"So how is it?" Ash asked, eager to know.

"It's... food." Lindi, after some thought, struggled to say.

"I know it's food, numnuts. I'm talkin' 'bout how's it taste?" Ash reiterated.

"How come you're not touchin' anything?" Elric asked Lucy who just sat there quietly watching everyone else eat.

"I don't appear to be hungry." Lucy replied politely - it sounded a bit analytical as well.

"You're thin enough as you are. You need some fattenin' up." Elric said, not aware that his statement sounded a bit impolite.

"Here, fatten up on some of these potatoes." Ash suggested as he nudged the dish towards her. As that happened, Lindi could be seen mouthing "No, don't," and shaking his head at Lucy; hinting at his opinion about Ash's "special recipe" potatoes.

"I must decline. I really don't appear to be hungry." Lucy assured the crew.

"Fine with me." Ash said before shoving a piece of potato into his mouth. Seeing that, Lindi looked over to Moreu sitting next to him and mouthed "How," as if asking how in the world Ash could stand to eat his "special recipe" potatoes. Suddenly, Ash pulled out a Bowie knife and, in a casual manner, stabbed into an apple; proceeding to eat it while it was still stuck on the knife. Almost immediately, Elric stared at Ash with a displeased look which took Ash a couple of seconds to see. "What?" Ash asked innocently with a mouthful of apple parts.

"Put it away. Now." Elric ordered in a serious tone. Ash groaned before pulling the apple off of the Bowie knife and reluctantly placing the knife back from whence it came - more specifically, into a knife sheath on his right thigh.

Kyng · January 21, 2014

Soon the ship was in motion, heavily so. Looking out from her window seat, Leta watched as the Glory 7 roared into action and took flight from the boardwalk. With the water beneath the ship at the mercy of the raw energy the ship released in taking off, a subtle crashing of waves spotted Leta's eye before the ship took too much height for this to be seen. After this she'd simply watch as the megacity, with an enormous population and a size to accomodate such, became smaller and smaller, until before they knew it, the Atmosphere had been breached and they'd taken off into deep space. Leta herself noted Lindi's use of a 45° escape, to easier escape the atmosphere efficiently - he knew his stuff.

After Elric's speech, each crew member was given their respective opportunity to introduce themselves to the Captain and, if they hadn't beforehand, each other. Leta was initially a bit hesitant on this but simply settled on disclosing her name and nothing more. The captain asked for an introduction, so she'd introduce herself. Anything not needed to be said would remain unsaid, and there'd be nothing more to it. Under the assumption that Elric Malcolm had read her application, she figured he'd understand the position she held was a mercenary and nothing more to it. That's the story she'd stick to. Keeping a calm head on herself she patiently awaited her turn, before gazing over to the Captain.

"My name is Leta Darnell. I'm tasked for mercenary duties on this ship." she stated, even-toned and well pronounced.

Shortly after this, it was supper time for the crew. While not glamorous, the dining room did the job and the food was not lacklustre in the slightest. The essentials were there and Leta wasn't too fussed about flavour based on the anticipated budget of the mission at hand. Besides, she was certain that on their voyages they'd find burger joints. With this in mind she decided to have supper and get what she needed to fill her gut. Having her fair helping Leta watched the commotion at the table while eating - she didn't pay much heed to the food she was eating - and she managed to get through Ash's potatoes without a hitch. She was just happy that she had her fill, and taking an apple herself after Ash had stabbed his own, she tenderly treated herself to the sweet fruit.

Odds were someone'd need to clean this up. Leta had a gut feeling that no guy on the table had any intention on cleaning up their dishes and would, albeit subconsciously, happily play the waiting game for someone to actually mention that the dishes needed doing. With this in mind she didn't want people to just clean their own respective plates - it wouldn't be a good start to the team work environment that would be essential to make this flight successful. Once able to get a word in with the chatty lot of Lindi and Ash, Leta looked to the table. "I don't mind washing up, after supper. When you're finished, if you could pile the plates and such up it'd be very helpful."

Desu the Blue Nerd · January 24, 2014

Even before Alphonse stepped into the engine room he had already begun work. As he walked he used a wireless connection, complementory of high advances in technology making this just as accessible as wires in most scenarios, to connect his MOVA into the ship's computer and therefore be able to constantly check the ship's status as he walked the hallways towards the engine room. It would be more accurate to say though that he was only receiving any information that Lucy were to be giving him. Of course there was nothing abnormal going on now but when it came to his work he needed to be as cautious as possible. There's a few scars on his arms that would prove why he'd need to be. It was also obvious that the walk wouldn't be very long. He did make sure to pick the room with the quickest access to the engine room. Having the blue prints already on hand gave him such an advantage.

He walked into the room with a confident strut. He knew he knew his stuff and he was actually really excited to begin work. He's worked on big projects for corporations before and has had a hand in the developments of a few ships but never before had he worked on an existing fully functional ship and with three years to do it he wasn't going to let a single screw go loose. Withing the first fraction of a second his eyes were already locked onto the engine. His utmost attention wasting no time in taking the sight of it in. He made it just in time too. The engine started up with a beautiful mechanical noise. A loud whirling that instantly brought the temperature in the room up at least a degree and would do that for a few more seconds until the temperature went up ten degrees and the air conditioning started to kick in that would work to keep the engine from overheating. The room was now a steady cool that felt simply right to Alphonse. A quick check of his MOVA and the temperature was indeed perfect for the running of the engine and everything about the start up would have been perfect if not for one thing. The engine was fairly loud but this one thing couldn't escape his ears. A rhythmic clicking. Very fast and actually efficient sounding in its routine but Alphonse knew this didn't sound right in the slightest. "The room's cooling system is clearly working so I wonder if the engine's interior cooling system is messed up somehow. I see no fluids on the ground anywhere and that is a good sign but I'm not completely convinced. Something might still be going wrong and some metal piece may have been bent slightly from the heat and is now banging against something...In which case I'm going to have to call Malcolm to let him know I'll need to check the engine before we can take off or even have it on again. It might not be serious but only a Kyrosian would actually lack any of the sense to not take a chance with a piece of machinery with the power to destroy a decent chunk of New York. Now where's the interco-" He cut himself off after turning around and finally noticing the true source of the clicking. Although, too many, it was not as dangerous as a faulty dark energy engine it seemed to make Alphonse even more nervous. It was Lucy. A female. In the engine room.

Things were silent for a second as Alphonse seemed to nervously stare at Lucy. It was her who broke the silence when she mentioned the status of the life support. She seemed to be talking to herself when she said it but the subject still seemed to help Al calm down at least a little bit. "Ah, yes. Thanks. If you don't mind keeping me up to date with things around the ship that'd be greatly appreciated. I did get into the database and I noticed those were updates likely by you on the ships status and since I have the habit of getting lost in my work keeping up with that will be very helpful to me. Thank you so far and please keep up the good work." Alphonse was coming across as a nervous wreck and he realized that. Flight or fight were the two options and flight had yet to fail him. He felt saved from further embarrassment when Elric's voice echoed through the speakers. "Well you heard the captain. That's a job for me." He quickly turned around and rushed back to the engine at an unnecessarily fast pace while wiping a small amount of sweat from his forehead despite the room currently being fairly cool.

He found his place next to a large panel that was a part of the engine itself. There were a few like it but this one was important. It was labeled. To be more accurate what was written on the label was 'Stuff Important to Warp Drive." Removing the panel it was indeed all there. Switches, dials, buttons, and wires strewn about. It would seem a mess to anybody without the knowledge of what anything did. To those who did it was almost drool worthy. "They don't many user interfaces like this anymore. It's really become a disappointment. Oh, make it more simple some say. I say no! Simplification is for Kyrosians so they don't blow themselves up with enough force to blow up them and the rest of their community. Features are lost and crucial specifications are attempted to be made irrelevant." His hands moved quickly as buttons were pushed, dials turned, switches...switched and in not time everything was set. Warp travel had engaged. Next to do on the list...introductions.

It was obvious that this had to happen eventually and it made perfect sense that it'd be best to do this as soon as possible. It doesn't mean that Alphonse actually wanted to do it though. Regardless, since it was going on and there wasn't all that much choice in the matter he waited his turn to finally speak. "My name is Alphonse Cassidy. I may only be twenty-four but I graduated from MIT at the top of my class when I was twenty-two and since then have had a large amount of work experience from working with the electrical wiring inside of an apartment to even assisting in the development of a few recent spaceship models. I've also written a few articles for the popular technology magazine The Weekly Wrench. I'm not saying all this to show off but to let it be known that I will be a reliable coworker so don't feel bad with even the most insignificant seeming problem on the ship. I am here to help and love to do so. Also, if I come across as too formal I apologize and will let it be known now that calling me Al or any more informal nickname is fine by me." Now that he was finished he took in a breath of air. He made sure to pay attention to everybody's name as it popped up. Especially Lucy's as he figured she would unfortunately be the one he'd work the most often with.

Dinner came up right afterwards and although Alphonse quietly ate the rest of the crew proved to be quite colorful. Despite half of the crew still being females Al didn't feel like he was going to live in complete lonely awkwardness. The meal wasn't particularly good and even made Al consider seeing if he could still download a cook book onto his MOVA while he still could but for the most part it was edible and for now it'd have to do. Either way, he, along with a few others, were finishing up their meals when Leta volunteered to take care of the dishes. Alphonse would have volunteered as well but he had other things he needed to get to and that was only somewhat of an excuse. He still very quickly thanked Leta running off back to the engine room.

Hotaru987 · January 24, 2014

The moment she finished straightening her room, she heard the call for everyone to assemble in the common area. Riley was actually relieved for the assemble as she had yet to find out everyone's names. As the doctor of the crew she wanted to be sure that she knew who everyone was, and vice versa. Her job is to keep the crew healthy, and to make sure they stay alive through the entirety of the trip. So Riley intends to build a trust with those on the ship so they knew if there was any sort of problem they could come to her. Once all persons had arrived the captain began with a speach worthy of his position. From his words Riley felt welcomed and relatively safe with him as the captain. He appeared trustworthy, and as a captain it was an important trait to have. Soon after the introductions were underway. The first was Bradshaw Lindi, the young pilot whom Riley spoke to before securing a room. The blood haired beauty went next. Her name, Lucy, and she would be the system's engeerer. The third to introduce themselves was Ashley, who would rather have been called Ash. Personally, Riley rather liked the name Ashley, and with the large man having gone 3rd in the line and his nickname having 3 letters...Well, now she would think of that everytime. It was then the Captain mentioned that 'Ashley' was a girl's name, to which Ash muttered in Keplen before firmly insisting that it was also a boy's name too.

Next to introduce, was the boxumous blue haired woman. She had a secretive air about her, which one would expect after she introduced herself as a mercenary. No need for too many people knowing your personal information in that buisness. Following Leta, was Alphones who regaled them with a few of his acomplishments. They were impressive indeed. Riley couldn't help the silent laugh when Al had to take a deep breath, after depleating his lungs of oxygen from his speech. Seeing it was her turn she spoke, "It's a pleasure to meet everyone. I'm Dr. Riley Lockheart, but please don't feel the need to add the title to my name. I'll be your doctor for the voyage, so if you have any problems at all please don't hesitate to find me. I'll be more than happy to accommodate." Ending with a smile, the final person was introduced. Upon this, it was time for supper.

Entering the dining hall, there was a single, long wooden table with enough chairs for each of them to sit. Riley claimed her seat and awaited their meal, and let's just say after tasting the meal the highlight of the day was cleaning her room. Though....She supposed the potatos weren't bad. Lindi and Lucy apparently didn't share this sentiment. As far as Riley was concerned this was better than anything she could cook. All of her attempts failed, which usually left her eating out or store bought lunches. After the meal Leta volunteered to do the dishes. Riley was surprised since she didn't seem like the menial task type of person. Al, had took off only moments later, though not before muttering a quick thanks to Leta. "Ah, let me help you with that. It wouldn't be right to leave that all to you."

Kakashi Hatake · January 25, 2014

It didn't take long for everything to get underway. before she knew it, the ship had already taken off
and they were off into the unknown. Simply following along with everyone else, she gathered with the
rest as they introduced themselves. Moreu was the last to do so, but she didn't make anything special
out of it. "My name's Moreu and i don;t seem to have any particular goal while being here. It's good to
meet you all." Soon after, everyone was gathered together to eat at a rather long table that was rather
unimpressive. She ate whatever food she grabbed and didn;t complain, it was better than her own cooking,
that was for sure. She simply ate at a decent pace, watched and listened to her fellow crewmembers,
mostly just to learn who everyone seemed to be. Nobody seemed too out of the ordinary, except maybe the
mechanic, because he's a rather smart, underspoken guy, though not too unordinary as well as the large
man with the lady name and the captain, though Moreu brushed it off as being too suspicious.

She soon finished her food, not quite filled up, and pushed her plate up a little farther on the table as
soon as she heard Leta offer to do the dishes. She was actually quite happy that she wasn;t charged with
the task of maid.

.:Blu:. · January 25, 2014

With his meal finished, Elric took a moment to thank Leta and Riley for their offer to do the dishes before heading off. Lindi and Lucy also expressed their gratitude verbally. Ash just sort of nodded a "thanks" and took another apple to go. After supper, the crew separated and proceeded onward with their evening. Well, it would be evening if they were back on Earth and in Utopia's timezone. In space, however, there was no distinction between the times of day. But nonetheless, there were digital clocks installed throughout the ship to remind the crew what time it would be if they were back home. Since finishing supper and having relieved the crew for the rest of the "night", Elric had returned to the captain's quarters and locked himself in. He also made sure to activate the noise-isolation feature to block all sounds that might escape the room. When he was sure the noise-isolation was fully functioning, Elric activated his MOVA's communication feature. Although they were in a dark zone, communication with private lines is still available. "Contact Jude." Elric spoke into his MOVA's mic. Sure enough, within the span of a third of a second, the MOVA successfully found the man named "Jude" in Elric's communication database and proceeded to contact him. It then took nearly ten seconds for the other end of the line to pick up. Once Jude picked up the call, a floating display appeared above Elric's MOVA; showing the grizzled mug of a bald individual.

"Well I'll be damned. It's the Colonel. I haven't spoken to you since that botched heist on Shadow." Jude said with a nostalgic demeanor.

"We made out with the money, didn't we?" Elric rhetorically asked.

"For damn sure! All 250,000 Credits." Jude replied enthusiastically.

"And get it straight: I ain't no colonel anymore. Matter of fact, I'm going by Elric Malcolm now. For the time bein' anyways." Elric said.

"Okay 'Elric'. So why did you contact me?" Jude asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well..." Elric began.

After the warp travel had been disengaged to save energy, the Glory was now flying through the dark zone at its normal speed. So far, it's been a smooth ride. With a less intense version of the dark energy force field being always-active, the ship could fly through these vast zones of space without worrying about chunks of debris pelting its exterior. Unfortunately, the real dangers of these dark zones did not come in the form of space debris. Flying several thousand meters behind the Glory 7 was a starship - cruiser-class. It's about a quarter of the size of the Glory 7 with a triangular design akin to that of a stealth fighter that existed more than five centuries ago. It has large wings on either side that extend outwards to cut through space debris but most important of all: it's faster than the Glory 7. The cruiser had been tailing the Glory ever since it arrived at this dark zone but for what purpose? At the Glory's cockpit, Lindi sat back in the pilot's chair and rest his feet on top of the dashboard.

Thanks to the autopilot, he needn't worry about piloting the ship until they were out of the dark zone. One of the many displays in front of Lindi had been repurposed to show cartoons of centuries past - it was quite hilarious. As Lindi watched the silly antics of the animal critters, he took a sip of a juice box he held in his hand through a green bendy straw. He seemed to be really enjoying this temporary leisure. Suddenly, a looping beep accompanied by a flashing red light appeared on the radar; alerting Lindi and drawing his attention away from the cartoons. Taking his feet off of the dashboard and planting them onto the ground, he spun his chair around to turn to the radar. "What the..." Lindi saw the red blip and quickly proceeded to activate the rear cameras of the ship. The visual feedback on one of the displays showed a cruiser-class starship following closely behind the Glory. Seeing the make of the ship, Lindi's previous calm had now turned into an alarmed and nervous disposition. "Oh rotten son of a bi-" Lindi quickly reached for a transceiver above him.

Back in the captain's quarters, Elric's and Jude's conversation was nearing its end. "Oh yeah, after what you did, stealing this ship and the captain's identity would be considered a misdemeanor." Jude said.

"So can you help me or what?" Elric asked.

Jude sighed before reluctantly accepting to help Elric. "Alright fine, I'll do it. But look, it's gonna take some time so you're just gonna have to pretend to be this 'Elric Malcolm' for a while longer." Jude stated.

"I've been in worse positions-" Elric was suddenly interrupted when Lindi's voice came up on the comm in the captain's quarters. "Uh, Cap, we might have a situation developing. It's probably best you get down here to the cockpit."

"The hell is that about?" Jude asked.

"Trouble, most like." Elric casually replied.

"You always do seem to find yourself in it." Jude dryly joked.

"Don't I ever." Elric said before shutting down the call. Exiting his room and locking it shut, Elric made his way towards the cockpit at a feverish pace. In space, no one could have the luxury of taking things slow especially not when there's even the slightest hint of trouble about. Before Elric could make it past the living quarters and to the common area, the ship took a sudden, violent dip as if it was hit by something. Elric was pushed forcefully against a wall and, sure enough, the other crew members were alerted by what had just happened too. Ash burst out of his room with a gun in hand; ready to use it. Leaning off of the wall, Elric looked back and saw the alert Ash cautiously looking around the hallway of the living quarters. "Ash, put that thing away before you shoot someone." Elric ordered.

"That's the point." Ash responded.

"Mistakenly." Elric specified. Following orders, Ash holstered his weapon and caught up with Elric. The other crew members soon entered into the hallway in an attempt to figure out the situation. Elric and Ash hurried to the cockpit and were soon joined by Moreu; the other crew members followed swiftly behind them. All of them soon arrived at the cockpit where Lindi seemed quite focused on the various display screens. "What's the situation?" Elric immediately asked as he walked towards Lindi.

"Well, I don't mean to alarm anyone." Lindi said as he continued to face forward.

"You ain't gotta worry about that." Elric said, prompting Lindi to look behind him and saw that all of the crew had already gathered here.

"Oh." Lindi uttered. Lindi then turned around and pushed a button on the control console to bring up the ship's rear cameras on one of the displays. Anyone who looked at the display could see the cruiser-class ship not far behind the Glory.

"It's a rotten cruiser. It ain't friendly, is it?" Ash asked.

"'Friendlies' don't usually ram transport ships without a good reason to do so. We're dealin' with pirates." Elric proclaimed much to everyone's surprise.

"Pirates? Like the kind that sail the high seas and merrily sing shanties all day long?" Lindi asked.

"The kind that plunders booty," Elric paused before glancing behind him; specifically at the women before turning back around, "in more ways than one." he said grimly.

Suddenly, the display that showed what the rear cameras were capturing turned blank. "Captain, the sensors are indicating that the Glory and the cruiser are joining airlocks." Lucy reported after having checked a systems panel nearby.

"Damn, they're planning to force their way in. Good thing I can remotely shut down the joining mechanism from here-" Lindi was quickly interrupted by Lucy who had more bad news to share.

"Don't do that. It seems they rigged their airlock with a detonation mechanism that will activate once it senses the Glory's joining mechanism being shut down. Unfortunately, the mechanism can only be deactivated with the engine controls located on the cruiser." Lucy stated.

"In other words, if we don't come over there and deactivate the bobby trap, the Glory'll have a new hole blown into its side." Elric explained.

"A Glory hole!? Those d'sure gwai Kyrosian shen-gii!" Ash angrily cursed; the Keplen part said, "motherless sons of Kyrosian whores."

"Got no choice but to fight. Moreu, Ash, you two get geared up and head down to the cargo bay. I don't care what you gotta use. Just get me a barricade goin'. Al, Lucy, you two will have to find the cruiser's engine room and deactivate the trap. Riley, I want you to go with them and find the cruiser's infirmary. They won't be needin' medical supplies much longer so we might as well take 'em. Leta, you're in charge of their safety. The four of you will need to take the emergency exit near the cargo bay so you'll be needin' spacesuits. Lindi, here, will bring the Glory to a stop so you four can cross over safely. Go." Elric ordered. After the crew had scattered, Elric removed his revolver from its holster. "Time for some rousin' heroics." Elric said.

Kyng · January 25, 2014

Smiling to the rest Leta nodded to Riley, before picking up the accumulated dishes. Bringing 'em over to the ship's kitchen, Leta removed her gloves, setting them aside neatly, smiling to Riley. "Thank you for helping out, I sincerely appreciate it." She said to her. "How about I was up, and you dry them and put them away?" Chuckling softly she went right to it - glossing her tender hands in some washing up liquid Leta scrubbed her way through dish after dish. In the idle time she engaged Riley in idle chit chat, ranging from the usual like "How're ya doing today?" and "Settling in alright?" though the key question Leta asked Riley was "I'm curious - is there any particular reason you decided to join this expedition?"

What then occurred was something specular. The Glory 7 was being assaulted by a cruiser-type starship who, not only had rammed the Glory 7, but also had forcefully joined airlocks with the threat of stealing goods and, assumed by Elric, women. Scowling at the thought Leta patiently awaited orders - discovering she'd be protecting Lucy and Alphonse who'd be deactivating the trap, as well as Riley who, in turn, would be nabbing medical supplies she could come across. "Yes Captain." Leta said, heeding the beck and call of the man she assumed was Elric Malcom. He seemed to be quite well aware about how to handle with these bandits so she had no reason to doubt him. That, and she'd be able to put her skills to work.

"Al, Lucy, Riley, let's best make our way to the emergency exit ASAP." Leta said as she made her way, jogging down the Glory's hallways to find herself a suit. Eventually, coming across one, Leta made her way straight for this exit - she'd simply wear the suit over her gear. After all, her bodysuit was formfitting enough that it'd slip under a space suit with ease. By the entrance, Leta began to slip into the gear. However, she came to a little snag when attempting to zip up the suit. Rolling her eyes with a sigh Leta groaned and looked down to her buxom. "Really, now? Of all times?"

She'd have sufficient problem enough that, when the group of Riley, Lucy and Al made it to said exit, they'd see Leta holding in her breath as she pulled the zipper over her bust, sighing softly as she brushed her hair off of her shoulders. With that Leta proceeded to tie up her hair in a ponytail for the sake of the helmet. Popping it over her hair she looked to the others and, turning on the com. system, asked "Alright, I'm good to go. Al, Lucy, either of you two know how we'll be getting into their ship?"

Desu the Blue Nerd · January 27, 2014

Unlike a few others Alphonse didn't have much intention of getting any sleep for a while. There was simply too much of this ship's inner workings left to explore…even if the blueprints he had already told him nearly everything. Really, it’d be fairer to say he just wanted to get a good feel of the ship. Spatial recognition was important in this line of work especially in the case of emergencies. Such as if the lights were to be knocked out. The thought of possible emergencies with the ship prompted Alphonse to look up. “Thinking about emergencies I should make sure the lights are fastened properly.” As if prompted to there was a sudden dip in the ship. With a dip so sudden the artificial gravity of the ship wouldn’t be able to adjust to the changes properly and as expected people and things all over the ship would be thrown around like any car in a crash. Luckily, Alphonse wasn’t high up anywhere but unfortunately he had yet to check on the lights. Vision was immediately lost as the lights were knocked out of their sockets only to fall to the ground along with Al.

Things stabilized quick enough and Al, although somewhat shaken up, felt physically fine. It was dark in the engine room but that was quickly remedied by him turning up the brightness dramatically on his MOVA’s screen. Looking around he could see the shards of glass which caused him to let out a sigh. It was almost amazing none of them hit him. “I should have checked them right away. It had probably been a while since maintenance was last done on them since they’re pretty high up there. At least we should have enough to cover for the losses here but I should take note of buying more when the opportunity arises. That’s the least of my worries though. I’ll have to clean up all this, replace bulbs, and the other damage to the ship may still be a far more important. I get the feeling some would find it sad that I’m looking forward to it. The ship’s already well maintained so I was going to be somewhat bored after a month.” Despite the situation and the stress most would have he still had a slight smile across his face.

He didn’t stick around in the engine room much longer though. He needed to leave to gauge the damage done. Plus, it was strange that there’d even be a crash that felt like it originated from behind the Glory 7. It was pretty obvious that there’d be some serious trouble. His departure from the engine room was slow as to avoid stepping on glass but as soon as he walked through the doors he sprinted. Somehow he still managed to get to the control room at about the same time but it was also painfully obvious he was somewhat out of breath. He thought to himself, “Rodger always said I should work more on my cardio.”

As the situation demanded everybody was very quickly briefed on the situation and what the strategy would be for dealing with it. Alphonse, after having caught his breath, made sure to get a good look at the ship to think about their entrance strategy. He was getting ideas but sat on them a bit as he ran to his room to quickly change into the spacesuit that was stashed inside the closet. He did things as quickly as he coould. His suit was on in less than a minute along with his tools strapped over the suit. Being attacked by space pirates was indeed one factor that made him go into maximum overdrive but the fact that his group consisted of females certainly warranted the purchase of turbo.

Alphonse quickly met up with his group at Glory 7’s emergency exit. He was hoping to rush out with them and finish this but Leta just had to ask what the plan to get in was. And to think, he was right by the door’s controls as well. He bit his lip and turned around to face the three girls. He acted to keep his body language normal and his helmet hided his sweating face from them. “Well as you three already know that ship is a cruiser type model. A little bit less obvious is that it’s modeled after an old stealth jet which existed less than half a century after the beginning of the space age and right around the beginning of the digital age. The relevance here is that although it’s old technology the stealth technology it has is still somewhat effective. This ship isn’t running off of very new tech either. So a simple cruiser wouldn’t catch us off guard so easily but this model could and it did. Still seeming somewhat irrelevant? It’s already here so why does its tech matter so much? It doesn’t really change a whole lot. I just got zoned out for a second.” Even though he was talking to women the subject he was talking about had significantly calmed him as he became absorbed in it. “The best approach would be the bathroom. Don’t worry; we won’t be going in through the waste disposal system. As popular as it is in the movies waste disposal systems are typically too small for a human to get through. They’re also much cleaner than movies depict but I’ve already gone too off topic as it is. No, the plan is to first find where the chute for it would be and then from there try to figure out where the shower is. The reason for this is that all rooms in space ships are vacuum sealed in case there’s a breach in the hull then the whole ship quickly loses oxygen. More interestingly, pirates use older ships. Typically about fifty years old. Maybe more so. Either way a bit less than fifty years ago there was a case in which a young man was taking a galaxy trip when he put his ship into cruise control and decided to take a shower. Unfortunately a random asteroid hit the side of his ship right where his bathroom was. It only created a small hole but it quickly sucked out all the air as well as the man in a very brutal fashion. Although the cases are incredibly rare it was this instance that created paranoia and created a massive popularity of three products. Closed showers. Absolutely useless in the scheme of things but it helped some deal with the paranoia since they were at least said to not break when there was a hull breach. Another was a closed shower that would automatically turn off and seal itself off in the case of a hull breach in the general vicinity. Instead of water there’d be oxygen released from a hidden tank to sustain life for hopefully long enough for help to arrive. Finally, there was Air Locke. It was a sort of foam spray that would be used for vacuum sealing just about anything so it was thought to be good in coordination with normal sturdy closed showers. Of course it was also much cheaper even if essentially ineffective. A can of this would always be in the shower or hidden underneath the sink and completely forgotten. People never really think some of these things through after all. If the ship has either Air Locke hidden or a vacuum sealed shower then we could get in by the shower, let the oxygen from the bathroom escape, set it to be sealed behind us, and then leave the bathroom without having to be worried about the oxygen from the hallway pushing us back out into space.” He proceeded to reach into his tool belt’s left pouch and pull out his plasma saw. It wasn’t turned on yet so its use may have been a mystery to them. “I should be able to cut through the hull with this so for this part rely on me. Lucy, do you think you can find any sort of schematics for the ship? Something similar or the same time period will do as well. I could probably guess where it is fairly well but Lady Luck isn’t really a very reliable mistress.”

With his speech finished Alphonse turned back around to the door’s controls. “So are you gu…girls ready? …would saying women actually be right? Young women?” It seemed like now that he wasn’t talking about technology some of his nerves have been lost again.

Hotaru987 · January 28, 2014

Riley followed behind Leta, agreeing to the system of washing dishes that she chose. As they repeated the task of washing and drying the dishes they engaged in small conversation. Riley tried not too watch Leta as she washed the dishes too carefully, but she did inspect the dishes as she dried them. Though she did so discreetly as to not let Leta know, which would be simple enough as she spent most of her life hiding her habit. Closer towards the end of their task, Leta asked why she had took the job. For a split moment her smile faded, though it was back before Leta noticed. "Hm...I wanted to find new species of plant life. Perhaps I'll find a better way to cure people, or find a cure for disease we don't currently have. So I guess you could say it was for scientific reasons." Riley went to reciprocate the question, but realized they were finished and decided not too. "Don't be a stranger through the voyage. We should talk again."

It seems that their fight for survival was going to start now. The Glory 7 was being chased by pirates! Each of them were given their task, with Riley being told to take as many of the pirate's medical supplies as she could. Her, Al, Lucy and Leta would infiltrate the ship and carry out their respective jobs. Leta, was tasked as their guardian. "Well then, let's get this show on the road." She mumbled to herself equipping her spacesuit, before meeting the others at their exit route. Leta then asked what the plan was and Al, who looked as though he wanted to finish this quickly, paused at the Glory 7's exit. He then went on this long explanation of the situation. It was kind of adorable. He looked a little uncomfortable in the female company, but once he started talking about his passion he didn't look as nervous. Though, Riley noticed it changed again once he was finished talking.

“So are you gu…girls ready? …would saying women actually be right? Young women?”

Riley chuckled, "I would hope I don't look that old." She turned to Leta, "It may be quicker for me to find the medical bay if I stray from the group. Our destinations are most likely going to be in different directions."

Kakashi Hatake · January 28, 2014

Moreu was taking her time to let her meal digest in her room when suddenly the entirety of the room took
a good shaking, almost knocking her off of the bed. Out of reflex, she jumped up as soon as she could and
ran to peek out the door into the hallway to see what was going on. Noticing that Ash and the captain were
making the way to the cockpit to see what was happening, she swiftly followed suit.

"Well, I don't mean to alarm anyone." Lindi said as he continued to face forward.

"You ain't gotta worry about that." Elric said, prompting Lindi to look behind him and saw that all of
the crew had already gathered here.

"Oh." Lindi uttered. Lindi then turned around and pushed a button on the control console to bring up
the ship's rear cameras on one of the displays. Anyone who looked at the display could see the
cruiser-class ship not far behind the Glory.

"It's a rotten cruiser. It ain't friendly, is it?" Ash asked.

"'Friendlies' don't usually ram transport ships without a good reason to do so. We're dealin' with
pirates." Elric proclaimed much to everyone's surprise.

"Pirates? Like the kind that sail the high seas and merrily sing shanties all day long?" Lindi asked.

"The kind that plunders booty," Elric paused before glancing behind him; specifically at the women
before turning back around, "in more ways than one." he said grimly.

To this, Moreu sort of smirked on the inside but almost covered her bum out of reflex. She intently
listened to the rest of the conversation until orders were issued.

"Got no choice but to fight. Moreu, Ash, you two get geared up and head down to the cargo bay.
I don't care what you gotta use. Just get me a barricade goin'."

"Sir." Moreu said, comfirming her acknoledgment of the order.

"Al, Lucy, you two will have to find the cruiser's engine room and deactivate the trap. Riley, I want you
to go with them and find the cruiser's infirmary. They won't be needin' medical supplies much longer so
we might as well take 'em. Leta, you're in charge of their safety. The four of you will need to take the
emergency exit near the cargo bay so you'll be needin' spacesuits. Lindi, here, will bring the Glory to a
top so you four can cross over safely. Go."

Moreu scattered with the rest of the crew, she and Ash making haste towards their respective rooms to get
geard up. Moreu getting into her room before Ash, while there, simply grabbing her gun holster and guns.
She didn't have much to get to begin with. She went back out to the door and met Ash there before both of
them made their way down to the cargo bay. It didn't take them long to arrive, Moreu scanning the area
for things to stack as soon as she arrived.

"Just grab things that are easily stackable like crates." Moreu recomended in a commanding voice.

They quickly spread out, Moreu grabbing generally hefty things to stack onto the airlock with Ash still
grabbing big, heavy things. Eventually, they had a sizeable wall of mis-matched crates and boxes to serve
their needs well. Moreu grabbed both of her guns from their holsters and stood back from the wall, watching
Ash and watching the wall, ready for wehatever was to come.

.:Blu:. · January 29, 2014

After the order was set forth by the captain, Ash rushed to his bunk and, along with his already-equipped revolver, strapped two shotguns onto his back for good measure. Before he placed the second shotgun onto the back holster, he cocked it to assure the electromagnetic rail within the barrel was working properly. Hearing the loud, mechanical click resonating from his boomstick sure made the muscular merc excited. He was itching to pull the trigger on this beautiful piece of death. "This is the excitin' part of the job," as Ash would put it. As if almost an instinctual tradition, Ash proceeded to kick the steel door of his bunk wide open and stepped outside with a big grin on his face. By now, Moreu had geared up as well and so the both of them made their way to the cargo bay with haste. Once there, they began the second part of their order: barricading the airlock with whatever they can find in the cargo bay. Moreu swiftly took command and directed Ash to only use easily-stackable objects. Right off the bat and without so much as a thought to it, Ash began grabbing the bulkiest, heaviest crates he could find and stacking them one on top of another in front of the airlock.

Moreu prompted for the smaller boxes and, soon, a makeshift barricade had been fully built to block the pirates from charging in. Unfortunately, this type of barricade wouldn't hold them off for long; Moreu and Ash probably had a few seconds before the barricade would be knocked over. But that isn't the point of the barricade, however. Rather, the captain needed a temporary distraction. Not long after the barricade had been erected, Elric arrived at the cargo bay - revolver in hand. Fortunately, the pirates hadn't managed to force the airlock opened yet, giving Elric, Moreu, and Ash a few brief moments to get their bearings. It didn't take long for Elric to notice the amount of weapons Ash was carrying. It was teetering on "excessive" after all. "Ash, how many weapons do you need? You only got the two arms." Elric commented.

"I just get excitable as to choice is all - like to keep my options open." Ash responded. "So what's the plan? These rotten boxes aren't gonna hold 'em off; that's for damn sure." Ash questioned.

"Well that ain't what they're for. Once they get through this 'lil 'distraction' you two cooked up, we'll mow 'em down." Elric explained.

"Lambs to the slaughter," Ash paused as he spun the chamber of his revolver and cocked it, "I like it!"

After a minute or so, the sound of the Glory's airlock can be heard opening. What followed after was a, "What in the 'Verse is this?" question from one of the confused pirates. Another pirate - most likely someone with rank - directed the others to knock the barricade down to which they promptly did. As was expected from such a flimsy piece of architecture, the pirates were able to completely dismantle the barricade in a matter of a few hard butts from their gun stocks. As they were doing that, Elric, Moreu, and Ash were at the ready with their handguns. Finally, the path was clear to execute the last part of Elric's order. Before the pirates could react, Elric, Moreu, and Ash began firing their weapons without ceasing for so much as a millisecond. In a few seconds, both Elric and Ash had emptied their revolvers' chambers, managing to shoot all the rounds into their targets. Once the constant fire had ceased, four dead pirates could be seen lying in a pool of blood. Calmly - even casually almost - Elric proceeded to toss his empty revolver chamber and attached onto his gun a new one. Suddenly, an object came flying around the corner of the cruiser's airlock and stopped right at Elric's feet.

Looking down, Elric saw what the object was: a pulse grenade - one that was ready to detonate. "Well that ain't pleasant..." Elric deadpanned. Immediately after, the grenade went off, unleashing a blue-colored pulse of kinetic energy that lashed out at Elric, Moreu, and Ash; sending them a ways back and onto their backs as well. "Grrr!" Elric groaned as he applied pressure to the left side of his torso. "(My damn ribs feel like they're 'bout to cave in!)" he thought. Although nonlethal and more commonly used for breaking doors clean open, pulse grenades pack a hell of a bite when used on the human body. The feeling of the kinetic pulse reverberating through the human body is similar to a hard swing from a sledgehammer - by an expert in the art of swinging sledgehammers. Fortunately, the effects don't go much beyond the intense feeling of pain. "Get to cover!" Elric painfully uttered the order to Moreu and Ash. Taking his own advice, Elric crawled his way behind a large strongbox in the back of the staircase. Just in time too because more pirates - five - flooded the cargo bay and took cover of their own.

"Here, catch!" Ash called out to Moreu before tossing one of the shotguns to her. "You need somethin' with more bite!" Ash stated.

-Meanwhile-

Lucy had grabbed a spacesuit and met with the others at the emergency exit near the cargo bay. After slipping on the suit, she listened quietly for the others' directions. Lucy isn't much of a leader; in fact, she's quite reserved and won't usually speak unless spoken too. Of course, when something as important as reporting an attack by pirates, she can become quite talkative. But even when dealing with such a terror-inducing subject, her expression remained calm and collected - fearless even. In any case, Leta directed her attention to both Al and Lucy, asking if either of them any ideas on how to infiltrate the cruiser. Lucy had no knowledge of the makes of ships and so she had to access her MOVA in order to look for the ship's schematics. Fortunately, Al - the bonafide expert on all things mechanical - began to concoct a brilliant plan on how they would infiltrate the cruiser. He projected all of his thoughts on the matter verbally with the expert knowledge of a university professor. To think this kind of genius would choose to be the mechanic of a ship like the Glory 7 instead of opting for the more advanced ships. The crew is lucky to have him.

After his deduction and proposal, Al reverted back to his more usual shy and awkward state; he had a bit of difficulty trying to figure out how to address the female members. Towards the end of his speech, Al had asked Lucy for the schematics of the cruiser if she could find one. Fortunately, all it took for Lucy to learn the make of the ship is with one good look. It's one of the qualities that make her so special. She could have no prior knowledge about a ship before but after one observation, she could seemingly track down all sorts of information about that particular ship. Making use of her innate talent, Lucy quickly found the schematics on an open database within the information network - what someone would casually call the "internet" centuries ago. Without being prompt, Lucy uploaded the schematics onto Al's MOVA. "You will find the schematics on your MOVA's database." Lucy calmly told Al. When the engineering genius finally finished his observation of the cruiser's schematics, right at that instant, the sound of shooting can be heard emanating from the cargo bay. They can't afford to waste anymore time and so they prompted to exit the Glory through the emergency exit.

After all four of them had exited the ship, they made sure the exit was quickly sealed to avoid a vacuum situation. They had also made sure to activate their boots' gravity feature to keep them glued to the ship's exterior. By now, Lindi had brought the Glory to a complete halt to allow Al, Riley, Leta, and Lucy to make their way to the cruiser which was about a hundred meters away from them. They started towards the cruiser: step by awkward step. Unfortunately, matters took a turn for the worst when small chunks of asteroids began pelting the ship. Earlier, the force of the cruiser ramming into the Glory had been enough to destroy the less-intense dark energy force field that had been active to protect the ship from things like this. Without it, the four of them are sitting ducks out here. "We have to hurry." Lucy said with an hastened voice. With their impact, small indents formed on the ship's exterior but, more importantly, it made walking towards the cruiser an increasingly difficult task. And then came a big one - one the size of a small vehicle. Seeing their impending doom approaching, one of them called for Lindi's help.

"I know! I'm heading to the engine room right now!" Lindi responded through his MOVA. "Shin-da me buu-dai!" Lindi cursed in Keplen; it meant, "accursed elephant diarrhea." With that, Lindi practically ran towards the engine room. Rushing inside, Lindi opened a control panel near the engine. Although it was faded badly, Lindi could still make out the words "D.E. Force Field" on a white label and, underneath that, is a switch. "Oh sweet maiden's breasts, let this work..." Lindi prayed before pushing the switch up. Outside the Glory, the four crew members were rushing towards the safety of the cruiser with the car-size asteroid approaching fast. In what could only be called a miracle, the dark energy force field suddenly activated and the asteroid bounced off towards empty space. Although they avoided death, the impact of the asteroid on the barely-activated force field caused the ship to rock. This translated to Al, Riley, and Lucy losing their footing on the ship's exterior which caused them to begin floating away from the ship. Leta had to do something fast.

Kyng · January 29, 2014

"Right, so we make our way into the showers." Leta stated, just to make sure everyone was in the same place of thought. While, indeed, Al's knowledge was nothing less than encyclopaedic, too much information could easily overwhelm. She was about to question whether or not they'd need a hull breaching explosive, though Al managed to ease her concerns with revealing a tool he stated would cut through. Leta had confidence in his resources, especially when confronting older technology. In that sense, she assumed Al'd be able to breach the hull with much ease. He did have a point, though - finding the room might be a bit tricky, though that was where Lucy stepped in.

Listening to her while checking her weaponry, Leta fastened her cuffs for safety's sake as she glanced to Riley who let out a chuckle regarding a comment on Al's nervous reaction. Leta smiled and shook her head. "Believe me, Doctor, you do not need to worry about how old you look - how do you keep yourself looking so youthful?" Being frank Leta wanted to find out if there was a secret to Riley's youthful appearance and, well, this was the optimal opportunity to ask when said can was somewhat opened. "I have to admit I am slightly envious." Leta flattered, hoping that honeyed words might draw out said secret if, of course, there was a secret to begin with.

Riley then asked about heading away from the group to the medical room to steal inventory. Leta hummed in thought. "Hmm...alright...I mean, the likelihood of them being in said room is incredibly slim." Looking to Lucy and Al Leta then proceeded to ask "Tell me, the medical supplies, where'd they be stored? Is it relatively close to where the trap has been planted? I don't want us to be too severely separated." With that Leta glanced back to Riley. "Just promise me you'll keep your com. online, and keep me informed on the situation. We can't afford to lose such a crucial member of the ship."

Eventually the squad made their way out into space - and immediately Leta felt a relief from the lacking of gravity. With a relaxed sigh, she began to take deep breaths to overcome butterflies of, you know, being in the depths of space. While on their walk across the hull of the Glory 7, unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst when asteroid chunks began to pelt against the hull, making the spacewalk much, much harder. Hearing Lucy's voice, with a notable hint of haste, Leta nodded and began to pick up her pace and walked across the hull faster. Eventually the four reached the cruiser, though a fairly large chunk gave the ship a heavy bump, even though it was deflected. The kinetic energy must have been sufficient - the fact of the matter was, everyone save herself had lost their footing.

Leta immediately snapped her hands on Al's suit, holding onto the cruiser to drag him down, ensuring the gravity between his boots and the ship were re-established. She then went for Riley, grabbing her shoulder and, using Al as a handle, brought her back down too. Leta's heart was racing but she managed to snap her hand around Lucy's ankle before drawing her back onto the hull again. With a sigh of relief she asked "Is everyone alright? Jeez, that was close - we need to get into this cruiser as soon as possible." Moving with the group's formation Leta looked around the hull, before looking over to Al. "Where are we in respect to the shower room?"

Kakashi Hatake · February 1, 2014

Before long, the barricade was erect and not much to Moreu's surprise arrived Cpt. Elric to lend a helping
hand. Moreu didn't get a word in edge-wise to the banter of Elric and Ash but simply stood and listened
until moments later, the pirates had breached the airlock and then the barricade. By then, the three of
them were locked and loaded so as soon as the pirates peaked their heads through, Ash and Elric began to
unload round after round, though Moreu was a little more smart with her unloading, putting only a couple
of holes of her own into each of the four pirates that had poked their noses where they didn't belong.
Moreu didn't exactly let her guard down but was still caught off guard by the sudden arrival of a pulse
grenade at the captain's feet. Moreu couldn't get a word out before she was blasted by the bright blue
pulse of energy, sending her back causing her to let out a brief "Guh!" before hitting the floor a ways
back.

Almost as soon as she hit the ground, she rolled over onto her hands and knees with a gasp as that last
suprise had knocked the wind out of her. "Get to cover!" Captain Elric commanded, snapping Moreu out of
a daze in order to quickly get herself behind a rather hefty cargo-moving vehicle right before her
attention was gained by Ash yelling, "Here, catch!" and throwing a shotgun Moreu's way, which she caught
in mid-air with both hands, right after holstering her own weapons. "You need somethin' with more bite!"
Ash stated, to which Moreu replied, "Yeah, thanks." with a chip of pain in her voice. That grenade blast
was like a nice, firm hug from the biggest bear you could find but that didn't stop her from being ready
to defend the ship. She didn't want to deal with pirates today and she definitely didn't want to kill
anyone either, but it couldn't exactly be helped in that scenario. She leaned out from behind cover just
long enough to fire off a shell and basically miss the pirates by hitting their cover instead. Not only
were they hidden, which made it hard enough to get them, but shotguns weren't exactly Moreu's choice
weapon either.

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