Colonial Ship Odyssey

Lara rolled her eyes at his teasing, leaning against the elevator wall.
She turned to him as he asked her where she was from.
"Oh, anywhere and everywhere in America, or at least that's what it feels like. I was born in San Francisco, we moved to LA about 3 months after I was born, I went to live with my uncle in downtown Chicago when I was 10 and I did my university degree and my training for this mission in New York. Add to that visiting Grandparents in Seattle and having a few holidays in Miami, it's hard to pick one spot where I'm from." She said, grinning at him. "How about you?"
As they reached the armoury and Simon turned to her, saying 'my lady', a shade of irritation took over her features.
"Unless you want me to shove that pistol up your ass when we get it I suggest you take that chivalry crap and blow it to kingdom-come."
She was serious about him not doing the chivalry again, but whether she was serious about the pistol was anyone's guess. Lara had the gift of being able to hide her intentions, which helped when dealing with teasing guys because if they couldn't tell whether she was serious or joking, they tended to back off. But either way, Lara hated being treated like a woman, it made her feel week.
She watched as he spoke on the comm, raising an eyebrow as he came out.
"Problems with Professor X?" She asked, only partially kidding. She wanted to be kept in the loop about the Arc, especially if she was going on board.

Simon waved her worries away.

"It's nothing. Just need to make sure we're all on the same page about this whole Arc thing" He laughed, trying to avoid questions. "Where am I from?" He added quickly, trying to change topics. "Well, I grew up in Covington, Georgia. Not a lot to say about that place. It had three junkyards and a Churches Chicken. If you didn't work at any of those, you didn't work" Simon said dreadfully. "Thankfully, I got the hell out of Dodge and joined up with another mechanic friend of mine who planned on seeing the universe" He trailed off a bit and scratched his beard.

Lara was listening to his closely, and he became a bit embarrassed.

"And here we are!" He exclaimed with a grimace.

He pointed to the caged area outside The Armory where they'd pick up her weapon.

"That'll be where you'll find your pistol" He announced waving her over.

He had lost himself for a second and almost spoken too much. Dean, his friend that had convinced him to become a mechanic onboard The Odyssey, had been stationed on The Arc. Simon had given up hope long ago, and still couldn't see his buddy walking off that station alive. The only question that frightened him was... What exactly had happened on that ship?

Lara frowned, eyeing Simon suspiciously as he spoke.
He was avoiding her questions. Why didn't he want to tell her about what was going on with the Arc? This may have been her first time in space but Lara was no idiot and was perfectly capable of handling herself and almost any situation. Whatever was happening, she could deal... well, she could if he would talk to her. She listened as he spoke about where he came from, it was a bit rougher than her background but she was never proud of her life before Chicago.
She looked over at the Armoury, nodding to Simon before walking over to the guy in charge.
"Lara Telmarine. Got clearance for a pistol."
"Right, here we go. It's a bit simple but it'll do it's job. You sure you know how to... never mind." He added as she easily loaded the gun, sliding it into her belt.
"Thanks." She said.
Then she walked back over to Simon, giving him a grin.
"Well if you don't need me any more I'll speak to one of the commanders and see if I'll be joining the boys. You never know, they might not even want a mechanic on this mission so I could be wasting my time." She added, grinning at him again. "Have fun with the professor. I'll see you around, hopefully with something to do on this floating tin can." She said, starting to turn towards the elevator.

Simon was impressed by her skill with the pistol, and it put his mind at ease about her visiting The Arc, but only a little bit. His eyes followed after her as she walked to the elevator. He liked her because she had always been honest with him, so he owed her the same.

"Hey Lara?" He called out, jogging to catch her before she got in the lift. "Listen... Be careful on The Arc, okay? I... I knew somebody on there, so I'm just buggin a little" He explained, with a nervous chuckle.

Simon put his hand on her shoulder. It wasn't an intimate touch, but more of a caring one.

"I'm sure you can take care of yourself... Hell, you could probably kick the ass of every Marine on this ship!" He joked. "Just... If you do head over with the search party and things seem like they're getting out of hand... Promise you'll get ahold of me on the comm, alright?" He said gently before turning towards the opposite elevator.

He walked over and pressed the call button. As the doors opened behind him, he stepped inside and turned back to her.

"You're pretty awesome. Can't say that about many people onboard" He called out over the mechanics of the elevator. "See ya round, kiddo" Simon said with a wave before vanishing behind the doors.

His finger found its way to the lab floor and he pushed it. The metal box moved down quickly towards Xavier. Simon leaned against the rail and closed his eyes for a momentary rest.

Lara turned as he called out to her, raising an eyebrow when he said to be careful.
She hesitated when he said he had a friend on the ship, no wonder he'd been funny about it, not even bothering about him touching her shoulder. But she grinned when he said she could take care of herself.
"Kick their asses alright. Don't fret about me, if the boys start freaking out or the ship starts falling apart I promise you will be the first to know." She said, her tone jokey and light hearted but her eyes serious.
Lara rolled her eyes at him when he said she was awesome.
"Hey, just because I'm going out into the big wide space doesn't mean you can go soft on me boy." She called out, grinned and giving him a nod in goodbye. "I'll come back and whup you later."
She continued up the elevator, heading to the floor where the Marines had been ordered to go earlier. As she went, Lara went over what she was doing in her mind. She was going to talk to the Marines to ask if she was needed on board a ship that just appeared out of nowhere. Well, she couldn't say this trip hadn't been interesting.
When she arrived, Lara immediately looked for an authority figure, catching sight of Colonel Knott.
"Colonel!" She called out, walking over to him. "Here on maitenance, we weren't sure if you wanted to try and reactivate the ships power. Simon's busy at the moment so I've been sent in his place, Sir."
Although she could talk to the other Marines and Simon however she wanted, even Lara had the sense to be respectful and professional to anyone in charge.

The elevator came to a halt and opened up to reveal the Lab 2B. Simon strolled out and began to shuffle down the hallway towards Xavier's station. As he neared the door, his comm made a series of small bleep noise. He paused and looked down at it with a confused expression.

"What the fuck? It's never made that noise before..." He said to himself.

He walked over to a nearby service console and opened the side panel. He fiddled with a few wires and then plugged one into his comm. Simons fingers stroked the keys and he paused to scan over the text. The noises had been a string of morse code. The quick message was then slowed by the mechanic, who proceeded to convert the signal into text. He was shocked when the data finally finished loading. Written across the screen was a distress signal being broadcasted from The Arc. Not the main beacon, this one was a personal message. He imagined the frequency would have been quite weak and wouldn't have been received until someone was at least 30 feet from the source. Simon figured the chances of his catching it on his comm were a 1,000,000:1, but it had happened. The fact he had caught it wasn't what bothered him, it was the message. He read the message aloud to himself quietly.

"Arc compromised. Do not attempt rescue. Destroy vessel immediately. No survivors." Simon whispered.

How in the world had it been compromised? What the fuck had happened on that ship? No survivors... Then who had sent the message? Simon removed his comm from the console and backed away, wondering what his next move should be. That's when he remember Lara, and quickly brought his radio to his mouth.

"Lara! Are you there?" He said frantically, not getting a response. "Lara! It's Simon! You There!?" He called louder, but still was met with silence.

He looked around the room, trying to understand the trouble, and kicked himself when he realized why his signal wasn't going through. Simon was too deep now, since the labs were located on the bottom of the ship and Lara was now near the top, where The Marines were gathering. If he had been just a few floors higher, it wouldn't have been an issue. He raced to the elevator and pressed the call button rapidly. The irony of the whole thing was the distress signal. It was broadcast on a frequency weaker than the ships comm system, yet Simon had somehow intercepted it.

"Lucky fucking me..." He raged to himself.

The elevator still hadn't arrived, and he looked up at the floor number. The lights were moving between 8 and 9, flickering and jumping violently.

"Seriously!? The god damn elevator is out now!?" He cried, kicking the metal door.

He had recently given it a tinkering, and had though this problem had been fixed. Simon turned away, realizing it was a lost cause and precious time was being wasted. He had to warn The Marines before they crossed to The Arc. Once they were onboard, they wouldn't stop until they were sure no one was still alive. Even if he caught them halfway, and they believed him when he told them about the phantom warning, they'd have to dock and prep for return.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He cried, moving back towards The Lab.

He paused for a moment and then bolted towards Xavier. Hopefully, he could help catch the troops. Either way, Simon had to do something, and since that tin can was lodged somewhere near Level 8, The Lab was his only option. As he raced down the hall, his stomach pained over his initial worry. Something terrible had happened onboard The Arc, and every passenger, including his friend Dean, were most likely dead. Simon rounded the corner into Xavier's station, knocking over some equipment and falling into a desk. He sprang up, ignoring his clumsiness.

"X! Where are you!? We gotta stop the search party! Theres something wrong with The Arc!" He shouted, looking around for the man.