The Emersed was cruising through a lonely part of The 'Verse, the stars were few and far and the only nearby planet was the one they just left. The modified wren-class ship wasn't going to win any beauty competitions but she was reliable. Most wren-classes weren't fit with autopilot but The Emersed had that special touch and her passengers were grateful for it. Their last pilot had turned out to be a bit of a problem and found himself stranded on the planet they had just departed along with the cut-throat bandits. That's what happens when you plan on betraying Captain Jessie Chambers, she doesn't like it when someone from her crew attempts to backstab her. There are always consequences.

It kind of peeved Jess off; not only being deceived but now having to find a new pilot. However, their little detour, while losing them a pilot, landed them with a new passenger. The girl had wanted to escape her life from the lonely planet and life as a courtesan. Jessie could understand the want for a new life and even though a bit reluctant at first, finally allowed the girl aboard. She was a relatively quiet girl but she had a sense of coolness around her that portrayed she had control of any situation. Jessie admired that, she needed a few people who had a calm head in stressful situations. That wasn’t saying that she didn’t have people who couldn’t deal with those kinds of situations it was just they tended to gung-ho into them.

She had been travelling with most of her crew for around 2-3 years and they had grown to know what to expect from each other. There flight was intended to take a few days before they reached more inhabitable planets, giving them ample time to learn a bit more about their mysterious passenger. While she had told them about growing up in the town she hadn’t exactly told them much about herself. Jessie just wanted to know whether the girl was trustworthy otherwise she would find herself on a desolate moon with rocks for company. Jessie had no qualms about taking the girl and helping her start a new life but that didn’t mean she was getting a free ticket. You had to earn your stay aboard The Emersed. That meant pitching in with helping whoever needed a hand.

When they took off and left the planet’s atmosphere Jessie took it as her duty to show August around the place, she didn’t hold much of a conversation, only giving small instructions on where everything was. Finally she ended with the spare room which had been their pilots but since he was no longer employed that right was void. When they had left him there they had dumped most of his stuff with him, so the room was bare save for some sheets and a pillow on the bed. That’s where Jessie had left her last and so for the last couple of hours each member had gone and done their separate thing. Jessie herself and retreated to her room. It was filled with an assortment of materials hanging from the ceiling and creating a sort of Middle Eastern haven. She had a few ‘trophies’ from past events and jobs, the tradition Chinese sword was hanging on the wall along with some other bits and pieces. Her desk was covered it scraps of paper some filled with cursive ink writing some with splotches and others just blank. She had a tall wardrobe in the corner that held the rest of her clothes, which wasn’t much, as well as a dozen thick, 30cm tall white candles. She would only use four at a time, burning them till they could give no more before using another four.

Taking them out of their spot in the wardrobe she carefully placed them at four points around her. She took her spot in the middle and began her ritual of crossing her legs and lighting each candle. Once completed she removed her necklace and held it tightly to her chest, closing her eyes and picturing Michael. Now was the time she reflected on the day and pictured all her actions that she committed. As if touring Michael through her thoughts and determining what she had done was right. Usually this process would take roughly an hour depending what had happened. When she finished she would say farewell and open her eyes. Then she would blow the candles out one by one and pack them away.

She glanced at the digital clock at her bedside table and realised it was time she started preparing dinner for the crew. She was about to leave but something caught her eye. It was her reflection in the vanity mirror. She rarely ever looked in the mirror but every once in a while she caught a glimpse of herself. She was looking far better then what she had when she first boarded The Emersed, she had filled out with some muscle and her complexion was much healthier and brighter. Her mass of black curls were as frizzy as always and while it was thick and lush again there was nothing she could do to improve it. A slight smile crept upon her face as she thought of how Michael would be proud that she was treating herself right again. With that she left her room and headed to the dining area.

It was sort of like a small mess hall with a table in the middle and a series of benches surrounding it and a stove, pantry, fridge and sink on the other side. The kitchen was empty and that gave Jessie time to focus on her task of prepping the food. Cooking for seven people, especially since two of them were bottomless pits, meant she had to have a decent amount prepared. Thankfully, when they stopped over they were able to replenish their rations and even score some fresh produce. Jessie felt that they deserved a nice meal so she began slicing up some tomatoes and got to work frying them up. It took her a little over an hour to get everything sorted but by the time she was done the kitchen was filled with homely aromas of delicious fresh food. She arranged it so that it was set up like a buffet and everyone could take what they pleased, the plates placed beside for convenience. Next she set up the table with some cutlery and glasses, a large jug of water and some bottles of alcohol scatter around. The task was soothing and when she was done she went over to the intercom and pushed the button so that everyone no matter where they were would hear her.

“Dinners up. Come and get it!”

She took her seat as she waited for everyone to file into the dining room.

His left eye swung nervously back and forth like a pendulum from his book, along the various bookcases lining nearly all the wall space in the cabin and out the starboard side window. Smoke rings emerged into the space gradually, clinging to the back of his book until they sputtered and broke free. B puffed on his cigar as he turned another page, then another. The real eye continued to bounce around the room and gaze precipitously out the window as his head remained straight, the gaze of his fake eye locked on the book through his eye patch. Another page, then another. A heat indicator went off on the right side of his internal display and he turned his head to look through the wall towards the kitchen with his infrared heat sensor. Heat billowed from around the stove and surrounding countertop inside the kitchen; swirling upwards in brilliant reds, oranges, greens and yellows. As he finished turning his head his mind reeled for an instant, struggling to incorporate the colorful display through the walls in the kitchen with the bulkheads of his own cabin coming into view.

As a reflex his right hand moved to scratch at a momentary itch around his fake eye, but at the last moment he gently rubbed the eye patch with three short, well rehearsed strokes for luck. The book lowered gently onto the table and he reached into the drawer. While swinging both legs out over the floor he grasped the revolver and pushed his feet slowly into his boots. Pulling the revolver clear of the drawer, he opened and spun the cylinders with his right hand while he pulled six bullets free from a vest pocket with the left and popped them into the cylinders as they rotated by, one by one. Straightening, the revolver cylinders clicked into place and he sighted down it as it leveled on the door, B spun the gun around his finger in a horizontal and vertical circle before securing it in the holster on his right hip. The shoelaces started sliding through the holes in his boots as he pulled them taut and tied them off.

Dinner looks about ready. Hopefully there is some fruit other than tomatoes this time.

B marched towards the door to his cabin, stabbing the cigar butt into an overflowing ashtray near the door, and flipped a wall switch disengaging the airflow fan above his bed. The fan released a deep *chunk-a-chunk* sound, followed by a sputtering *cough*, a final desperate chug to inhale what it could. Smoke billowed in large folds out the door as it opened and spilled into the hallway. B grabbed his black hat off the wall and rolled it down his arm before flipping it onto his head from the elbow as he emerged through the smoke.

The hallway was metal paneling, conduit, some piping, and more metal in the form of reinforcement struts spanning the ceiling and bulkheads. Uniform and sterile for the most part, but a few wires that never quite got back inside where they belonged poked out colorfully from behind panels and every few struts had some sort of unique scorch or welding mark. Customizations dotted the walls as well, extra displays, manual release valves, some fire extinguishers and a few false backed smuggling panels. His fake eye noticed all the details of the ship. At some point that list of details drifted into memory and he was lost to thought. Each imperfection, redesign, and repair job conjured a memory, told a story of some scrap the crew of the Emersed had lived through over the last few years. The story of who they were and what they stood for, what they did every day.

Keep working to keep flying.

For him the Emersed was more than a ship and crew. It was an idea worth defending, fighting for and dying for if necessary. Something the Alliance couldn’t take. But more than that, perhaps something worth living for.

Careful now. Those kinds of thoughts will end up dulling your edge...

The intercom squawked, jarring B into focus:
Dinner’s up. Come and get it!

B preferred to arrive at the table a little earlier than the rest of the crew if possible. He enjoyed sitting with the Captain in silent reflection for a few moments before the onslaught of the meal. Even a good crew that gets along well has its ups and downs. When everyone works more often than not until the work is done, unresolved issues spill over into the food. While B had no problems with the Captain deciding to leave the pilot behind, and he certainly deserved it given the circumstances, not everyone might see it that way.

We work well enough together to get the job done, but certainly don’t know one another’s minds. And then there’s the new passenger…a complete stranger.

With infrared he entered the kitchen already slightly disappointed there would be no silent time with the Captain. But he tipped his hat to the new passenger nonetheless and remarked, "Ms." *nodding* in passing, as he rounded the corner through the door frame without looking over. She had already gotten food and was seated at the table, barely visible behind her own personal food mountain. He moved towards the counter with the buffet. As he approached the plates he turned towards the Captain and said, “Captain.*nodding* Please and thank you”, and started loading a plate. As he moved through the buffet selecting some meat, vegetables and bread he paused at the fried tomatoes. The right side of his mouth curled ever so slightly but he removed three slices and put them on his plate.

Figures. Better stick closer to the Captain the next time she buys fruit…

Carrying his plate over towards the two already seated he placed it and some utensils down on the table as he took a seat to the Captain’s left. He stared down at the food for a moment, soaking in the smells with his nose and a varied array of colors with both eyes. As B looked up attempting to gauge any dangerous intent emanating from the newcomer he was startled to notice that she was wearing little more than a longish half-shirt and had already inhaled half of food mountain.

This one looks like a handful of trouble...

So long has she been drifting through the stellar abyss that was the vast emptiness of space and time. Ship after shift; nightmare after nightmare, it was a surprise that anyone could make an easy life of this. For the last three years she has been with Captain Jessie Chambers, a respectful woman aboard the ship Emersed. Now, it was no queen of space, but the vessel would get the crew from point A to point B with minor issues. With her bottom perched atop her lightly clad bed, she combed a brush though the thick silken strands of long winding hair. Usually, she was untidy in appearance, but she was growing tired of looking like a bum and a half. Standing up, she'd set the brush on a table, and turn around to take a quick glance at the ugly scratched embedding deep within that lightly tanned tissue. They were the marks of her most profound secret, and a deadly one at that. Vibeke was no fugitive, just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The dainty doe wasn't about to go spilling the Alliance's misdoings anytime soon. They just wanted her because, well, they thought she would open her mouth at their invention of the disgusting abominations now called Reavers.

"Dinners up. Come and get it!" chimed the Captain over the intercom. That was the moment that she threw a loose fitting pair of slacks and a blouse over her lithe form, then climbed out of her hole-in-the-wall room. Literally.

As she walked down the paragon corridors of the ship towards the kitchen area, she did not think about what happened to the pilot. Over the last three years, she knew that Chambers did not take crap from anyone. It wouldn't be a far-fetched truth to say that the pilot double-crossed her. That person was strange and off from the very start.

Closing in on the dining/kitchen space, she waved with a small smile, "Zdravo, guys." Her place was taken next to B, a man who has been with them for a while. Truth be told, Vibeke had no idea what it was that he did. Most people didn't talk about their history. It was a good idea to keep those things to yourself, you know. When push comes to shove, the reality was simple; someone always caved into the temptation of money. The Alliance offered good bounty for someone that they wanted. Great money, even. Half the time they didn't even keep their word.

Next, those honeyed hues flitted over to August, the newest passenger on Emersed. The doctor did not trust anyone anymore. Not after what she was put through. Especially not after the former Pilot was left stranded on a rugged planet by himself. As laughable as that was, and insane. Watching the girl pile food onto her plate, Vibeke would go as far as to figure that she probably hadn't eaten in days. She tossed B that expression that stated, who in the world is this?, before helping herself to some food.

That was, if August wasn't going to stuff herself like a fat cow.

Settling comfortably within her chair, resting her back against its sturdy spine, she forked some of the plate's contents into her mouth. Of all the places to be feminine and pristine, this was not one of them. Emersed was made up of women who were anything but womanly in attitude and demeanor. Even with men present, there was no reason to be lady like. They understood, anyway. This was what it was like to live on the constant edge; danger everywhere they land, traveling to craggy planes, and dealing with the threat of the Alliance.

Thankfully, the only thing that they hadn't had the displeasure of dealing with was Reavers. These people, well they were people once, were complete monsters. Cannibals, rapists, and murderers, they set their ships flying across the spacial territory looking for their next meal. The tale states that these were human who traveled too far off the edge of the 'verse, but really, they were victims of a terrible Alliance experiment. However, anyone could become a Reaver if they were driven insane enough.

A visible shiver wracked her spine and shoulders at the thought. It wasn't sane to think of them. It just wasn't... to have them always on your mind like the doctor did.

Changing the course of her mind, she glanced over at Jessie, "So, where we go now?" It was obvious that her grasp of the English language was very rough, and her Slovakian tongue a little harsh. Couple with the knowledge of Chinese, she had a very hard time with language. Regardless, the overall tenure of her voice was soft and feathery, not low and brash.

The rattling noise in her ceiling has started again. Kora Neverwinter lay on her bed, staring up at the ventilation duct and the overhead pipes, attempting to pinpoint the source of the irritating sound. It was clearly something that had come loose. Whether it was something like a door release or whether tit was something that meant they'd be torn apart next time they entered a planet's atmosphere....well that remained to be seen. The Emersed always served to keep things interesting.

She had a fairly small room, nothing particularly impressive...mainly as she'd turned up without many things to put in it, and had never shown a lot of inclination to acquire anything else. There was a bed, a desk which was mostly covered in assorted bits of paper and technology, and a chest of drawers with clothing spread haphazardly around the inside. It was certainly far removed from her rather privileged roots....in size and status anyway...not necessarily in other areas.

That was to say a 'rich' person on the outer planets had probably a lower average living standards than a 'poor' citizen on the core...at least in terms of amenities. The Neverwinters had been the kings of the hill, so to speak, but they had been on one of the most lonely and desolate places in the system. They'd still relied on log fires and houses made from stone and timber. They'd still ended up with a garden full of snow, sled dogs, and reindeer....so privilege was something of a sliding scale when it came to the outer planets.

As a result, Kora hadn't really struggled to adjust too much to life on the Emersed....but one thing that did seem to always get to her was the lack of space. Sharing the comparatively small area of the ship with all the others was a considerable source of contention for all concerned, and Kora was more certainly no exception. She'd come from a place where the wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions and you could wander for days and not see another living soul....to somewhere where she was struggling to stake a claim for her own toothbrush.

She'd gotten used to it though. The fact was it was surprising how quick it was to adapt when you weren't really offered much of an alternative. She couldn't return to what she'd once had, after all. She could go back and join the rest of her family in bending over and letting the alliance take them roughly from behind...the option was probably still there...but really that was never going to happen. She had learned to cope with trying to protect her toothbrush, fighting over the showers and engaging in the most bitter and drawn out disputes over who had eaten her peanut cookies...but she could never learn to cope with losing her pride...

The call over the intercom pulled Kora out of her reverie and she swung her legs over the side of the bed, stumbling onto her feet and attempting not to slam her head into the low-slung pipe that seemed to have become her nemesis in the past three years, endeavouring to give her a concussion at every opportunity.

The young woman, dressed in her typically casual fashion, stepped out of her room half-heartedly attempting to pull her hair straight with her fingers. She wasn't especially hungry, but by then she knew that if she didn't go right now, she was not going to be eating anything later. Besides, promising free food was the easiest way to get the entire crew in one room simultaneously, so it was often a time when important announcements were made.

A few moments later, the red-haired first mate stepped into the room to find most of the others already assembled, and grabbed her bowl and chopsticks from the draining board before going over to join them, pushing her way onto one of the benches. Like much of the folks in the system, Kora's family and peers had had a distinct oriental influence to their culture. She'd been eating with chopsticks since a little after she could talk, and they tended to be her default mode of eating. It was a rather amusing testament to the mix and match culture of the system that someone should be eating their food using a set of chopsticks made from reindeer horn.

Kora quickly snatched up what she wanted, before leaning back in her seat, balancing her bowl in one hand. Only when she was certain that she'd managed to save a decent amount of food from the clutches of her crewmates did she endeavour to speak up.

"How's it going everybody? There's something mechanical rattling somewhere above my ceiling so....it's either going to keep me awake or kill us all...just thought I'd put that out there."