-------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Looks like we're almost ready to go." Michael mumbled out through heavy eyes as he went through his crew list. After having spent the remainder of his day and most of the night stuck in his office, answering calls, reading reports, accepting suggestions or denying petitions. The remainder of his time was filled with going through requisitions as the remnants of his crew finally boarded the ship. "Chrarada has been sending ships out all day to snatch our people and bring them back. It's quite amusing." Srettia returned, laying herself across the Captain's divan. "This is a comfy couch. We should get one for our room." "I think it's here in case I need a quick nap. Easier to sneak away to the Captain's room than back to my quarters after all." Michael replied, continuing his work. "Well, the backrest ends at the perfect spot to allow my tail to relax. I would like one for our living room." Srettia continued, seemingly in love with the new furniture. "I'll put a request in with the hangar then. It shouldn't be a problem since we're still being loaded." Michael replied with a sigh, sending yet another requisition to the fabrication team. Srettia frowned and pushed herself into the divan, patting the open spot in front of her. "You should come lay with me. You look exhausted." "Can't... Not yet at least. With all the people boarding, I'm getting a lot of requests from officers who need equipment. We may be able to make some out in the field, but since we're here, I'd rather spend Leda resources than our own." Michael replied, continuing his work. "What a wise and hard-working Captain you are... You know what that does to a female of my kind, right?" Srettia playfully teased, holding back her laughter as Michael began sputtering at his desk. "You shouldn't tease a Terran male like that. It could lead to unexpected consequences." Michael playfully answered. Srettia flicked her tail and smiled widely at Michael, hoping to elicit a positive reaction. "I am hoping it does. Though I suppose we are in the wrong spot that that no?" Michael sighed and nodded. "Fraid so. Maybe on another date, we can break the room in, but for now, it's business... Looks like Viscia and Tanda just boarded the ship.......... She wants a lot of stuff. Wow, that's a lot of stuff...... What's a Melarald?" He asked, looking over to Srettia in confusion. Srettia pulled herself up to a sitting position and quirked her head in confusion as if looking for a good answer. "It's ahh... A scale scraper kinda... It helps to remove ones that aren't growing correctly... I don't know why she would request one, though. Any proper female would have one or two." "Ahh... It was just removed from her list. She did add a few more things, though." Michael replied, looking through the growing list. "I guess I'll just forward it off to requisitions. She's got a bunch of weird stuff like water containers and lamps and stuff. She does know she can grab this stuff anywhere on the station, right?" "She's a surface female. You'll notice a stark difference in what surface born and station born will request and how fiercely they covet such items." Srettia answered with a shrug. Michael swiped his hand and decided to let another tech deal with the list, choosing to move onto other inquiries. "She always did strike me as a packrat. She's even got ration packs on this list. Guess that explains a bit about how she always seemed to have the things we needed." Srettia stretched her legs, checking the time as she did so. "Well... I think It's time for a nap. You've been at this for hours. " Srettia stated, rolling onto her back and slipping Michael an inviting grin. Michael sighed and glanced at the time, frowning upon realizing that it had indeed been quite a long day. Getting up, Michael moved over to the fancy couch and picked Srettia up, placing her on her feet in front of the divan. "Just a nap. Got it." He stated, laying down on the couch." Srettia smiled and climbed onto Michael's chest, laying her body atop his and enjoying the pleasant heat. "Just a nap. Got it... Captain." She whispered seductively, wrapping her tail around Michael's leg. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This ship is amazing!" Tanda nearly shouted, happily running around the engineering bay like a small child would a toy store. "You should calm yourself. Your subordinates are watching you." Viscia encouraged, waving at a few stunned engineers. "Nah. They're looking at you. I can't say I blame them, though." Tanda replied, pulling up the ship's schematics on the main display. Viscia grinned and fought to keep her hood flat against her neck as she walked up to the core monitor. "This is quite an improvement. It only took them a few days to fix their errors and improve my design?" Tanda nodded and pointed out the new parts. "Helps when you have precision fabricators that can make this stuff in minutes. Also, Dr. Aldon is one of the smartest Terrans alive. I bet he felt as stupid as I did when he saw how you pointed out our mistake." "I guess. It still makes me feel like I still have a lot to learn if he so quickly and easily improved upon the design like that." Viscia retorted, sitting down at the station. Tanda shrugged as he continued to study the fold core, carefully making sure to familiarize himself with the new parts. "Well, you're learning fast as is. I don't see the need to feel down at the fact that a Terran four times your age whos spent his entire life with science was able to build upon your work." "Work that I built upon his. Though thank you. Shall we explore the rest of the ship now, or do you wish to continue studying the fold core?" Viscia said, walking up beside Tanda to look through the designs with him. Tanda shrugged and looked to Viscia for the answer. "What do you think, Lieutenant?" Viscia playfully shoved Tanda and turned her back to him. "I want to see the rest of the ship. We can study engineering later." "Sure thing!" Tanda replied, following Viscia out of the engineering section and down the hall, waving at the curious faces as the two passed by. "The Crew seems to be quite inquisitive. It's easy to tell who's from Terran space and who is not." Viscia stated, waving at another crewmate. "Some are kinda scary looking." "Foot soldiers. They're not meant to look nice." Tanda replied, turning into a lift and keying the hangar. " I've seen quite a few already. This mission will most likely see combat." Viscia curled her tail nervously as the door closed and the lift began its journey. " Is that why we don't know our mission yet? They don't want to scare the people boarding this ship? Tanda looked around, making sure this lift wouldn't arrive and allow people to overhear his thoughts as he leaned into Viscia. "Don't think so. My guess... With this many soldiers, and what I think I saw sitting in the hangar. We'll be going to another inhabited planet. Possibly an unfriendly one." "What do they need me for then? I do science, not war." Viscia returned, with a bit of fright in her voice. "Not that I mind since I get to stay with you. But I don't want to kill anyone." "You won't have to. Terran standard procedure is to have a well versed team of scientists and engineers on any deep space missions, even if they are going to war. It's in case they find something of interest or need a brain to help them figure out a malfunction. You won't have to do anything that involves killing anyone." Viscia sighed in relief and nodded her understanding. "Got it. I'm just here to be the brains in case of an anomaly or something then?" "You got it. Your job will most likely be identifying subjects of interest or help to investigate alien equipment we find." Tanda replied as he exited the lift into the hangar and looked at the equipment. "Yup. We're going to a place where there is a high possibility of war." "WHAT'S THAT!? Viscia shouted, running over to the massive Terran robot. "Whoa there, lady. I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just come waltzing up to my equipment as if you own it." Rowan exclaimed, waving a wrench at the energetic lady. "Git. Step away from the machine. Vamoose." He continued, looking over to Tanda, who just returned his stare with a shrug. "They hijacked you for this, too, Rowan?" Tanda replied, walking up to the quartermaster. "Aye. Seems that helping to build the prototype armour for the Aasteran landed me a spot on this death cruise." Rowan replied, taking Tanda's hand into his own. "Nice to have you aboard with me." Viscia turned to eye the man and tapped her tail in greeting. "Hello.. Rowan, is it? I am Viscia, mate of Tanda. It's a pleasure to meet you." Rowan laughed and slammed Tanda on his back, nearly shunting the man off his feet. "Snagged yourself a lady did you? Good for you! I was beginning to wonder why you never stopped by recently." "What's with the tanks and Mechs Rowan?" Tanda asked, looking around the hangar. "We're obviously going to war with whatever shit bag race did this to the Aasteran system. I would bet a year's worth of models that we're most likely forward scouts since they aren't telling us where the fuck we're going. Normal procedures to prevent leaks and all... Even if it wouldn't mean shit considering no one would leak what we're doing to an enemy species." Tanda nodded and eyed Viscia, who had her hands over her mouth in amusement. "Vulgar and direct as always. But I guess that means I was right about what the mission of the ship is." "The soldiers didn't tip you off, smart ass? Anyway, I need to get back to fine-tuning this stuff. Can't have it breaking down when it's in the middle of punching a hole into somethings skull." Rowan replied, getting back to his workbench. Viscia tittered to herself as Tanda walked over and pointed at the Mech. "That's a Neuro Mech. Its job is to-" "Punch a hole into somethings skull, Right?" Viscia finished, laughing to herself as Rowan shot her the thumbs up from his bench. "Right." Tanda groaned, grabbing ahold of Viscia hand as he joined her in a laugh, choosing to show her the equipment sprawling around in the hangar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A subtle beeping, a ringing in your head, something you can't escape from. Louder it grew, continue it incessant beeping, driving home the point that something, somewhere was attempting to push its subject insane. "Damnit." Michael mumbled, turning off his alarm and slowly opening his eyes. As he awoke from his nap, Michael cursed his implant as it once again asked if he was indeed awake, wanting to slam his head into the floor in an attempt to break the evil machine. Instead, Michael just answered in the affirmative and looked to his sleeping mate, deciding that it was time for her peace to come to an end as well. "Wake up, dear." Michael whispered, gently rubbing Srettia's back as she slowly stirred. "Nope. It's my turn to sleep need." She replied, slowly stirring from her slumber. Michael benevolently slid himself out from under his cover and placed Srettia onto the couch, quietly moving back to his desk to allow the tired female some extra rest. As he started his datapad, sighing as he noticing the list of requests had indeed piled up, though thankfully had stopped relatively recently due to the crew being fully boarded. "Guess that means we're good to go?" he mumbled to himself, checking his crew roaster. "Yup. Everything's aboard." He murmured. With a nod as he double-checked that his crew had indeed boarded though some still waiting for their equipment to be stored, Michael yawned and began going through the remainder of the requests. "I'm going to need a 'Second'." He announced to the room, finding that he had not been assigned one. As the time wore on and Michael finally finished up his work, he stood from his chair and moved over to Srettia, shaking her awake while gently speaking into her ear. "Helmsman. I need you on the bridge now." Srettia rolled over, burying her face into the sofa before realizing the spoken words, quickly spinning back around to her feet. "Yas svr!" She responded. Michael chuckled and wiped a bit of drool from her mouth. "Good. It's work time now, so I'll be calling the senior officers to the bridge for a quick discussion while the last of our gear is loaded. So go get yourself ready." "Yes, Sir." Srettia replied, walking over to the small sink to quickly wash up. Michael left his room and entered the bridge, noticing that only his ops officer steven was on the bridge, seemingly still working on his controls. " Good morning Lieutenant-Commander." Michael stated, taking up his position. "Good morning, Captain." Steven replied, continuing his work on his control panel. Srettia exited the Captain's room, quickly moving to take up her position at the Helm. "Good morning Steven. Did you sleep well?" "I did. Thank you." He replied without looking up. Michael shrugged and opened a com with his commanding officers, informing them that the ship would be beginning operations within the hour and to take their posts on the bridge. Not having to wait long, as Viscia and Tanda entered the bridge almost immediately after, both paused, seemingly shocked to see who the ship's Captain was. "It's you? Does that mean!?" "Indeed. I am here, Tanda." Jack answered, taking up his position. "Hey, good morning, Jack. I kinda thought you were still doing that thing. Sorry, pal." Michael said, waving a hand at Jack. "No apologies needed. I was, indeed, still busy. It was your message that brought me to the bridge." Jack replied, looking over to Tanda as he spoke. "Good Morning." "HI, JACK!" Tanda shouted, waving his hand happily as Viscia laughed at the energy he was suddenly exerting. Michael nodded his head, motioning for the duo to take their positions. "Welcome aboard my ship. Once we leave the hangar, I'll be informing the crew of our mission. It's not a nice one." Tanda and Viscia nodded in return and moved to their seats as Commander Soto entered the bridge. "Reporting for duty Captain." He stated, standing at attention in front of the door. Welcome aboard, Commander. "You can take up tactical over there." Michael pointed before looking back down at his datapad. "I'll be going over mission parameters once we leave the hangar." Soto shrugged and went to sit in his seat, buckling himself in and pulling his controls into himself. "I pretty much know what it is already based on our equipment." "All stations are reporting green, Captain. We can leave on your order." Steven reported. Michael nodded, wondering if ships really did operate this smoothly. "Alright. Inform Leda command of our departure and bring us out." Michael commanded. "We are clear for launch. Bringing us out." Srettia replied after a short pause, trying not to listen to the conversation ops was having with command as she began powering the engines to fly the ship slowly out of the hangar. "I'm sending coordinates to your position now, Helm. Take us there and prepare for fold jump." Michael commanded, beginning to think about the speech he forgot to prepare. "Aye, Captain," Srettia replied. While the ship exited the system, Michael nodded as he finished going over the remainder of the reports streaming into his implant. As he read through them, ignoring the conversing bridge crew, Michael was quite happy with the state of the ship. Everything seemed to be loaded over his seven-hour 'nap.' The crew was prepared and ready, and nothing seemed to be out of place, with the exception of a few missing personal items here and there. As the ship finally reached it's out of system destination, Michael finally stood from his position and walked towards the front of the bridge, turning to look at his new bridge crew. "Well, then first things first. Yes, we are going into battle. In fact, the chance of us immediately entering battle upon jump exit is high." He stated, ignoring the quiet murmurs. "Second." Michael declared, waving his hand over to Jack. "Commander Soto, I'm sure you've met Jack. But do not know of his secret." Michael paused to look at Jack for a moment before letting a smirk loose on his face. "As of this moment, Jack. You are no longer classified and given the full rights of Terran citizenship along with all its benefits. Congratulations, my friend." Jack sat there, stunned for a moment, before looking down at his hands with a wide smile. " I am at a loss for words. Thank you, friend." Commander Soto frowned and stood from his couch with slight anger. "What do you mean? Jack is a Terran, just like us. Why was this not a given?" Michael held up his hands in protest at the angry man. "Jack is a Terran, yes. Even more so now. But he is a true AI. As such, he was not considered a citizen until this moment due to his nature. But with his service record and his willingness to take on this mission, the Fleet Admiral was happy to make him a citizen." Commander Soto shot a quick look over to Jack and studied the man closely. "So... He's an AI? What's with the body?" Jack deactivated his hard light form for a moment before quickly reactivating it with a smile. "This ship was designed to allow me the freedom of movement. It was created with the idea of making it easier for the crew to interact with me. After all the implementation of a realspace body over a disembodied voice seemed to help achieve that." Jack replied, taking his seat once again. Soto nodded and sat back down in his couch. "Alright. Any other spooky shit you going to throw my way?" "Third. Our mission. We are to investigate the Voktlix home system. Fleet ops expects it to be occupied by a Briolb invasion and tasks us with the job of finding out how bad the situation is and returning with that information so they can prepare." Michael continued, Sending a full mission dossier to the gathered officers. "Fourth. Our ship needs a name." "Ohh, How about Star Talon!" Viscia blasted out, raising her hand excitedly. Michael looked around for other suggestions; however, most of the gathered crew seemed to be happy with the name. "Alright, Star Tal-" "I like the Idea of Messenger... I mean, we're bringing a message of freedom and peace to people oppressed and information back to fleet command, right?" Steven stated evenly, looking up from his control. "Yirphayen has arrived and is requisition permission to enter the ship." Michael coughed and nodded. "Alright, let him in through the hangar. Anyone opposed to 'Messenger'?" After waiting a few moments, Michael nodded and went to sit back down in his couch. I'll give everyone two hours to go over the mission parameters before we leave the system. If you have any questions, feel free to bring them up directly with myself. Or my second Jack. Jack looked around the room in confusion as Srettia happily beamed at him before looking back at Michael. "I. Thank you, Captain." "Don't thank me. I just tripled your work." Michael replied with a laugh, transferring half his work over to Jack. Once again going over his orders, answering questions and debating entry points into the system with Steven, Soto, and Jack, Michael found himself rather apt at dealing with the burden of command, cursing that the Fleet Admiral may have actually been onto something as he finished up going over strategy with his tactical officer. "Alright. I agree with your evaluation, Commander. Anything else you wish to suggest?" "No, sir. Everything seems pretty well put together. We just need to give the crew time to take their stations and ready themselves." Commander Soto replied, sitting back down into his crash couch. "Never thought I'd be back to being a tactical officer. I was never really a fan of sitting on the bridge." "Yea, I hear ya there." Michael replied, leaning back into his seat. "Yirphayen is requesting permission to enter the bridge." Steven stated. "Granted. If we're going to jump, I'll try to make sure Yirphayen is with us. It seems to notice things we don't while in transit." Michael stated, creating an exception in the ship's log for Yirphayen to access the bridge when it wishes. "All stations green, a few minor complaints about the mission but overall nothing out of the ordinary. We are ready to begin operations, Captain." Ops declared as Yirphayen finally entered the bridge with a disgruntled tune, quickly taking up its seat. Michael nodded and look to Srettia. "Helm... Initiate fold jump." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------