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Annarein (Ann) Vernig

"I'm fluent in many languages but have no words for this"

0 · 347 views · located in The Nightwing

a character in “The Nightwing's Voyage”, originally authored by cucumbersome, as played by RolePlayGateway

Description

Name: Annarein Vernig (“annarine verneek”)
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Species: Firni (“feernee”)
Height: 5'8"
Weight: “Stop telling me to eat more!”
Rank: Intelligence specialist

Image
Image by ThomasR95.

Ann has short, aubergine, almost black hair, and dark blue eyes (only a thin line of iris is visible, her pupils are always huge). She has the same white skin and moving freckles as other Firni.
She tends to wear tight black clothes made of a material resembling velvet, which is soft and absorbs more light than other wearable materials. She doesn’t show much skin.

For details about her species, see Saein.

Personality

Ann is a bit shy, but speaks without hesitation when her job requires it (although she will often be overly formal in work conversation, a rare behavior at RMEE). Her shyness is more easily noticed in personal conversation. The impression she leaves without talking is calm - her shyness isn’t that of someone who is scared of people, but of someone who really wants to be liked by all. She’s quite the perfectionist.

It’s easy to make her giggle, her own humor when she feels at ease (read: sure it won’t hurt anyone) is sarcastic.

She is fiercely loyal to her sister.

Ann is clever but tends to overthink, making her seem slow at times.

Equipment

A very expensive datapad.

A pair of thin gloves.

A dagger on her belt (she is not able to use a gun).

A dog/hyena-like creature that assists her. (male furnak, named Ip) Its neck is at a height she can comfortably rest her hand on. The animal is dark wine red with white stripes, and has a wide bald black stripe around its neck which looks like a collar at first sight.

The same inhaler that most Firni seem to carry, pink.

History

Ann had a rare autoimmune disease as a child, which has been stopped but has left permanent damage that isn’t immediately obvious (she walks and talks just like other people). She is blind, but being a firni, she can borrow the eyes of other creatures from Wen. Saein, her older sister, took a high-pay high-risk job hoping that lots of money could buy a cure. There is none and the money was never used for this purpose.

Too handicapped to serve in the military, she spent some years studying languages before following the example of her sister and joining RMEE. At RMEE, she worked as a translator on very large ships meant for transport and trade, while Saein worked mostly on smaller ships on exploration missions - they never actually worked together.

Her boss fired her for no apparent reason and told her she got a job on a human ship called the Nightwing. Okay, she got a little more information than that, but still... Ann feels confused and a little scared by this change, but figures she’ll find out what exactly is going on soon enough.

So begins...

Annarein (Ann) Vernig's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Eddie Ackers Character Portrait: Minerva (Minn) Darv Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Bond Mason Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Dedrik Vals
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“Is he okay?” Minn asked, referring to Eddie. “Wha-What happened?”

“A bullet hit him” Saein replied matter-of-factly. “Eddie is strong” was the most reassuring thing she could offer. Saein couldn’t afford to join Minn in getting emotional, not now. Repressing her feelings, she looked away from the girl. When she turned back, Bond had moved Minn out of the way a little and was comforting the cook. Saein squatted to look Minn in the eye. “Minn. I’m sorry, I need to work now. We all need to work now, to fix the ship, to help Eddie and the others, to get to a safe place. And we’re going to need you, everyone’s going to need lots of coffee and food.” She stroked Minn’s cheek, quickly got up and walked away to hide her own tears. It felt wrong to ask Minn to be strong.

Later, Dedrik came asking for a sitrep. Saein knew what he meant. “I caught a scent I don’t recognize, possibly a creature. If you didn’t find anything, it’s probably just something that drifted in when the doors were open. It’s probably n...” She stopped. “Just to be sure, though... MAK, check for signs of life in spaces that are supposed to be empty. Increase the frequency of routine checks to maximum. Ignore programmed margins of error for measurements when deciding what to report to me, report any value that is higher or lower than actual measurements during normal operation in the past. Pay extra attention to unusual things happening in or near the kitchen. Keep doing all of this until we have done a sweep of the whole ship.”

MAK confirmed understanding the order.

“There’re a lot of bullet holes, but nothing dangerous” Saein continued to Dedrik. “What do you know about who attacked us? Who is down? Who did we lose?”

She listened and nodded while Dedrik concisely gave her the information he had. Meanwhile, her hands worked on replacing a floodlight that had been destroyed by a bullet. Restoring the light would make fixing everything else in the area easier.

Saein did not like what she heard from Dedrik and the crewmembers working around her. How dare the Intergalactic Council attack a ship on a peaceful and legal mission! It was outrageous! It was disgusting! It was undemocratic! It was... time to let some friends know what was happening. “MAK, I’m going to dictate a letter that I want you to put on my datapad. I’ll use that to encrypt it, so don’t send it anywhere else.”

“I’m listening” MAK responded.

Much later, on Othra station, Regina received a message:

From: anonymous relay

Captain Oris,

We are a privately owned company under the jurisdiction of a government that is independent of the Intergalactic Council. We have been made aware of your mission and the attack on your crew. We are sorry to hear about the crew members you lost.

Apart from our offended sense of justice and the belief that completion of your mission may be profitable to us in the future, we have other reasons to wish to assist you, which we cannot disclose in this message.

We wish to transfer one of our employees to you. She will be an excellent intelligence officer. Furthermore, once she is on your ship, we will inform both the Intergalactic Council and our government that she is there. This means that as long as you don’t engage in activities that are illegal according to the laws of our government, any further attack by Council guards will be a violation of international treaties and may be considered a declaration of war. We don’t know if the Intergalactic Council will care, but we consider it worth trying.

If you don’t want our employee on your ship, you may send her away, and we will not interfere with your mission again.

Wherever you are when you receive this message, do not stay there for long. This message is difficult to trace back to us, but might be easy to intercept. Do not wait for us, we have a way to find you.

Be safe, and good luck.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Minerva (Minn) Darv Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Saein was so tired it was difficult to find the room. Her roommate was in the shower and had left the door open, so she paced around looking for a place to sit that wasn’t awkward. Not that she wanted to sit, she wanted to pace around and punch things, but her legs and arms disagreed. Finally she sat down on the floor, with her back against the wall, right next to the open door to the shower. She pulled up her legs and stared over her knees at the opposite wall.

She had sent a message to a few old friends at RMEE, explaining in detail what kind of mission she was on, who her new friends were, who had attacked them, who died... She couldn’t bear to tell her relatives directly. It was clear she would soon be blasted out of space and swept under the rug as a pirate. Why was she still on this ship, why didn’t she just walk out, into the station, to safety?

She was so angry. That word was occupying most of her mind: “angry”. “Angry angry angry angry angry. I’m going to die. Angry angry angry. I’m going... No. No more of this stupid loop” she thought. Saein slammed her fist into the floor. The pain distracted her for a moment, after which she started talking, just to say anything. “Minn... I feel bad about the way I talked to you.” In her mind, she added “And I don’t want it to be the last thing I said to you.” Going with random nothing, she continued “Do you know why we’re alive, Minn? It’s because you’re obsessed with cooking, and because I was very hungry. What a pair we are. I’m so angry, Minn. For what they did to them.” At myself for being too late. Her tears came back, and not seeing much anyway, she stopped caring about awkwardness. She turned to look up at Minn. “Well, you’ve got the right idea, having a hot shower.” There was no irony in her voice, she was simply noting a friend doing something nice for herself that that friend deserved. An example to be followed, when Minn was done with the shower, of course.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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“You sent this?” Ann had finished reading the letter to captain Oris, which her opinion had been asked about. “It’s worded all wrong! Who translated this? Are we trying to make her send that woman away as soon as she arrives?”

“I wrote it. I had to word it that way to avoid being recognized by my choice of words” the big boss replied.

“As I was saying, a fine letter indeed, mister Semlig” Annarein chose humility with a side dish of crow. “What do you want from me, then?”

“You’re the one who is going.”

“Me? Why me?”

“You’ll see” he replied enigmatically.

Her face twitched. She imagined sticking her dagger in his desk, the hardened blade easily slicing through the metal... But she would never do something like that, and besides, he was speaking to her from lightyears away. “Please, don’t say that.”

He hesitated for a moment, unsure why she would say he shouldn’t say something. Then it hit him. “Oh. Sorry. But I’m sure you will thank me for the surprise later. Just to be fair to you, you are okay with the risks, right?”

“I’ve been assaulted by members of primitive cultures quite a few times, mister Semlig. I’m sure the Intergalactic Council couldn’t be much worse than negotiating about a handuptanium mine in the Sors system.”

“Glad to hear it.” She could hear him smile. “You’ll be heading for Othra station right away, but we’ll probably give you new coordinates before you get there.”

“Understood” Ann nodded once.

“Have fun, Annarein” he said before closing the connection. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. Oh well, she could wonder about that and everything else once she was on her way, she’d better go pack her things and say bye to the crew now, no time to lose.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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((OOC: posting this a bit early so I won’t have to write an enormous post later.))

Annarein

Ann did not receive new coordinates before arriving at Othra station, and to her surprise the Nightwing was still there. Why hadn’t they left after getting some supplies and a quick fix? Why weren’t the Council Guards here yet? That seemed incompetent for what was supposed to be an elite army. She didn’t mind this surprising situation, it would make joining the crew without getting intercepted by the Council much easier. And maybe she could even get away with pretending the clumsy letter had nothing to do with her. Bluntness was one way to gain trust, but mentioning ones commercial interests to someone who had just lost part of her crew... That just wasn’t right.

She stepped out of the small, fast ship that had brought her here, stretched her back, snapped her fingers and pointed at the ground left to herself. Ip immediately pushed the bald part of his neck up against her hand. “Gu jong” she praised the furnak, scratching him behind the ear for a bit before resting her hand on the spot where it belonged. Together they turned to have a look at the outside of the ship, one could never get a sense of the amount of armor on these things when one was inside them. This particular ship was definitely a lot smaller on the inside. She waved at the pilot, turned once again, and walked away. Ip stayed precisely in position next to her, even when she moved in ways that forced him to sprint around her. Only a few steps away, she heard the door close behind her. The ship would wait for her for a few hours, in case the captain of the Nightwing rejected her, but nobody on board was interested in anything on the station.

On the last corner before the location she had memorized, Ann asked an old man “Excuse me, is that the Nightwing?”

“Can’t you read, luv?” he snarled at her. She didn’t feel “luv”ed at all, but still thanked him. Her mind wandered to the dagger on her side, a thought she kept well hidden. This guy didn’t know any better. “Oh, now ya are all offenended, aren’t ya? I can read ya firni yaknow! And ya eyes are freaky ya know tha, ya racist piece o freckled white crap? Canna even be bothered tha learn tha read a real language, always gotsa hav it done alllllll your way with yer superiorities!”

Her fingers darkened with freckles for a second when she gave Ip a command. He pulled up his upper lip and let out a low, rumbling growl. Ann delivered the other half of her mixed message directly. “Once again, thank you for your help. I think you’ll find young firni are a lot nicer than what you remember from the good old days.” She put sarcastic emphasis on the last words. Was it right to be mean to this old man? She could understand where he was coming from, but...

Walk away. There was no need to escalate this misunderstanding.

Someone standing guard at the Nightwing asked for her name and reason to be there.

“Annarein Vernig, to apply for a job as intelligence specialist” she replied, putting on a professional smile. Inside the hangar, someone who appeared to be the captain was speaking with some other job applicants. She could smell alcohol on some of them, including the captain. Sad, but that was to be expected on a ship in this situation.

She patiently waited to be spoken to. Someone tried to pet Ip, the animal backed away from the hand. “Please, don’t do that. He doesn’t like it. ... And I assume you do like your fingers.” Her voice was friendly, and there was a hint of joking in it. Ip wouldn’t bite. Not immediately, anyway.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Dedrik Vals Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Valerio Vimes Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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((OOC: Life had to be handled. I am, so sorry. I really am.))

Pale blue eyes analysed the current of people. Each with a different destination in mind. Some held data pads, stooping at random times to read a few words. Others held supplies ranging from tools to medical supplies. It was one organized cluster of disaster. She could see the roots one would take to avoid another. The tension in the air was almost impossible to not to notice. Of course, she didn't expect much else, the crew had lots friends, family. It was always hard to bounce back from that. They seemed to be holdin-

"Welcome to the Nightwing, name and business?"

Swiftly turning on her foot, Mercia stuttered incoherent words. The man in front of her stood proud, no emotion crossing the Vasparti's face. She opened her mouth to answer him. Her voice, though, got caught in her throat when his attention was broken away from her. It was then that she noticed a few others standing with her. All of which she had seen at the bar.

"My name is Captain Regina Oris, and this is the Nightwing." Blinking at the Captain, Mercia smiled slightly. So she was the Captain of this ship.

"I'd love to go first!" A man shouted from the small crowd. His voice was very, enthusiastic. Looking back, the brunettes eyes found there way to a Fotiss. His voice not quite matching his sophisticated attire.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Valerio Vimes Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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[Ignore please]

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Valerio Vimes Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Regina

There was so much happening, Reggie wasn't sure where to begin. Thomas pretty much went into depressed mode. The boy she had locked into the chamber had managed to escape. And many questions kept bouncing around the room in rapid succession. It took all of her self control to not scream for everyone to shut up. Thankfully, someone chimed up loudly, stepping forward with excitement.

"I'd love to go first!"

Reggie blinked several times at the sudden outburst from the Fotiss. Still drunk, I see. The captain couldn't help but smile in amusement. "Yes, why don't you go first. Introduce yourself to everyone, please. I'll be just a moment." She made a grand gesture, for the alien to take the floor, and then rushed off to the exit of the hangar. She grabbed Thomas, who was waiting patiently, by the arm and pulled him inside.

She placed him at the edge of the group, and gave him a look to stay, then turned to the boy standing proudly outside his once prison. She grabbed his arm, but not before giving him an annoyed glare, and dragged him next to another recruit.

"Congratulations! You're all hired!" She stated grandly. She stepped next to the Fotiss and smiled apologetically for interrupting. "Sorry for the informality, but we're in a bit of a hurry and I'm going to need as much help as I can get." She pressed a few buttons on her datapad and made a grimacing sound. "We're in an extreme hurry, actually." If she was correct, the Guard was practically here, and there lives in mortal danger.

"MAK, get us out of here!" She called.

"Right away, captain."

The hangar doors raised and the Nightwing shot off quickly. Once the ship settled into a smoother ride, Reggie turned back to the Fotiss, hands firmly clasped behind her back. "Anyway, continue."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Valerio Vimes Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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#, as written by HAT101
"Yes, why don't you go first. Introduce yourself to everyone, please. I'll be just a moment."

There was a pause in Dia's thought as she gave him the floor. All eyes on him and now he had to bugger up, or bugger off. He looked down at his Sfair and mustered up the courage needed for public speech. He cleared his throat.

"I Am.." He began to say.

"Congratulations! You're all hired!" Regina Interrupted, "Sorry for the informality, but we're in a bit of a hurry and I'm going to need as much help as I can get."

"Oka..." Dia mumbled.

"We're in an extreme hurry, actually," she added whilst looking down at her computer thingy pad.

Dia felt an over whelming sense of tension push down on his shoulders. He began to slouch slightly and lower his eyes.

"MAK, get us out of here!"
"Right away, captain."

Dia perked up immediately as the hangar doors closed and the ship blasted off quite violently. He only perked up because his face might have met the floor if he hadn't. It was mere seconds before the ship steadied with a mostly silent rumbling. Dia felt a bit woozy as he regained himself, it was that moment that he began to realize how tired he was...

"When did I last Slee..." He thought.

"Anyway, continue." She inserted into his mind.

Dia stood up straight as he scratched the back of his head. He looked up at the crowd like a child at his first spelling battle. He then turned an looked at Regina, Her face had a familiar charm about it, she looked on to Dia with expectation. Dia cleared his throat once again unnecessarily.

"Hey... guys... Crazy meeting all you in a place like this," He awkwardly began, "I am called, Dia Fora! I am drunk! ...mostly..."

Dia's eyes perused the crowd to gauge any reactions hoping that his personality came through in all the ways he wanted it to... or cause he's a little crazy.

"I like to think of myself as extremely lucky," He continued, "mostly because I've always been told it's a wonder why I'm still alive."
"I just seem to make it out of any rough thingy I get my self into," an arrogantly confidant tone about his voice, "plus.. and a bonus and an add-on... I'm pretty funny... also I'm pretty funny to boot..."

Dia felt the words failing him, and he felt his eyes drifting toward the captain but knowing he couldn't speak telepathically he just sort of stopped talking.

He bowed as if he had just completed a performance.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Eddie Ackers Character Portrait: Minerva (Minn) Darv Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora
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Saein

Saein was vaguely aware Eddie had appeared in the room. “Hi Eddie, good to see you’re up” she said, while 99% of her concentration remained on her work.

Minn’s panic drew her out of the task. What was that all about? Oh, Eddie had seen them naked. “Well I guess he is ‘up’ now”, she remarked. Saein didn’t care much, it wasn’t like nobody had seen her like this before. When something made her blush, it usually meant she had contradicting feelings about her own intentions. It was interesting Minn reacted so bashful to being seen in the nude by Eddie by surprise, surely many more men had seen her than had seen Saein. Was this a new thing? If so, it seemed like a positive change that she was acting like a normal girl her age.

The beep of the washing machine interrupted her thoughts. Saein put on the clothes that were clean and dry again, divided her tools, other stuff (among which now also the Shifters) between her pockets, and finished putting the datapad back together without its antenna.

Minn was trying to tell Eddie on the other side of the door off for walking in, and at the same time trying to explain the situation had not been of a sexual nature. It was adorable, which made Saein wish the nature of the situation had been different, minus Eddie walking in of course. Saein gently pushed Minn away from the door, so Eddie wouldn’t get flashed when she would walk out. With her hands still on the girl’s shoulders she looked into those big green eyes and told her “I really want to stay here with you, but I have work that can’t wait if we want to stay okay.” Part of her wanted to add something about how wonderful it was to be near Minn, but she couldn’t find words that were suitable while the girl still felt embarrassed by Eddie. Maybe it wasn’t necessary to find the words, it was visible in her eyes.

Saein opened the door just far enough to step through it sideways. With a cheeky grin, she patted Eddie on the shoulder and said “Happy birthday! I’ll make you a real and intended present when I’m done keeping the ship in one piece!” And off she ran.

The “malfunctioning” part of the communications system was, of course, difficult to access. She had to remove a wall- and a ceiling panel to get to it, and then there were several pipes and cables in front of it. Passenger ship designers were idiots. After a few minutes of manual testing and some more time frowning at the tables of data MAK had put on her datapad, Saein concluded that this was indeed an intentionally caused software problem, not a malfunctioning antenna optimizer. “MAK, switch back to the old configuration of the comms, and see if the problem occurs again. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.” MAK agreed, a little light went on on the part she had tested, and Saein put the wall and ceiling back together. “MAK, where is the captain?” she asked.

“In the hangar.” So that’s where Saein ran to next.

-----

Annarein

"Congratulations! You're all hired!"

Well, that was convenient. And worrying. The captain had hired what might well be a bunch of drunks, without much if anything of interviews. Without even deciding who got what job. Ann had to find a way to claim hers, so she didn’t end up being the toilet cleaning lady or something. With the hangovers some people would soon have, she didn’t fancy that particular job. The Fotiss made something that seemed to be intended as an introduction speech. That could be a way to claim a job, so she went next.

She was able to speak in a calm, kind, almost quiet voice and still be heard by everyone. One of the less obvious things one should train to be a good interpreter. Next to her, Ip tried to look elegant by stretching his legs as long as possible and looking up to the ceiling, which must have looked like a silly pose on an animal built to crush bone. “Hello, everyone. My name is Annarein, I am an interpreter and intelligence specialist. It’s going to be a pleasure wor...”

She was interrupted by a squee, that didn’t end until she was suddenly being hugged and her face was covered in kisses. Confused, she tensed up, until she caught the scent of who was doing this to her. “Saein! What are you doing here?” she hugged back. So that was what that surprise thing was all about.

“What are YOU doing here!” was the reply.

“Saving you, apparently.” She let go of Ip and reached for Saein’s neck. “May I?”

“You know you don’t have to ask.”

Saein’s freckles became a fast moving blur around the spot where Ann put her hand. Ann continued addressing the crowd. “As I was saying, it’s going to be a pleasure working with you. And. Um. It’s good to see you all have faces. Who shall go next? I can’t promise you’ll get a welcome like this too...”

Ann took her sister away from the crowd and embraced her, the two women exchanged feelings between them in the most direct way possible. It didn’t take long for Ann to find something that shocked her. “Saein, you’re on Shifters.”

Saein considered denying it, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t lie to me! How can you even think of lying to me!” Ann was not pleased. She pushed Saein away, put both of her hands around her sister’s throat, and forced her to feel exactly what Saein’s stupid action did to her. Every day removed from Saein’s life was another one they would be separated forever, it made her heart hurt.

For a second, Saein instinctively tried to resist, her skin getting pure white around Ann’s hands. She couldn’t. Saein started crying.

“Do you have more? You have more. Give it to me.”

Saein handed over the box, and tried to wipe away her tears with her other hand.

Ann took Saein by the hand and led her to Regina. “Captain. Your mechanic has been using Shifters.” She held up the box. Each word hurt herself when she said it. Her hand almost crushed the box, she was scared of this stuff. Scared that someone would try to snatch it from her. Scared that she would get tempted by it herself. “I think we both need to talk with you, soon. For now I just need a way to dispose of this where nobody can take it back out of the trash, and the location of the nearest bathroom.”

After giving Reggie a chance to respond, Ann told Saein “Come on, let’s go put your finger in your throat.” She was worried. Worried sick, and perhaps the universe intended that pun.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Bond Mason Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Regina

A lot happened after the ship blasted away from the station. The Fotiss finished his introduction, very awkwardly at that. Dia Fora. Why does that name sound familiar? Reggie's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by another new crew member with Saein. Oh, there she is. Glad to see she's okay. The girl next to the mechanic looked very similar to Saein. They might be sisters. The way she spoke to her made her believe that they might be sisters.

Annarein, was her name, explained that Saein was on Shifters, and asked where they could be disposed of. "Just slide it into that slot." She explained pointing to a hole in the wall. "MAK we'll be able to get rid of it."

She released a breath, causing her loose hair to fly up around her face. She couldn't keep MAK flying the ship like this. The AI was fantastic, but she didn't want it flying her ship for long periods of time. Introductions continued and Reggie pressed a few buttons on her datapad. Eddie was still in no condition to fly, according to the doctor's notes. Damn.

"Captain, if I may ask a question."

Reggie looked up to meet the blue eyes of another recruit. "Yes, go ahead. I just..." She glanced around, meeting the eyes of several new recruits, all looking confused. She bit her lip, she was being so unprofessional. She really didn't have time to be a proper captain, as much as she wanted to be. Right now, she needed to get this ship to safety. She didn't want to abandon the new recruits without answering their questions, but she was running out of time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Bond working mindlessly in the corner. Reggie bit her lip again and turned back to the brunette. "I'm sorry, but can we walk while we talk? I have an injured pilot, and an AI piloting my ship."

She didn't bother keeping information from them. There was no time for that. She had to get things moving, and quickly. MAK was great when they needed to get away from somewhere or when it was smooth sailing, but if they were attacked, there was noway to survive. She looked back to the recruits. "Okay, everyone, walk and talk please. We are heading to the bridge!"

She turned and called Bond over, she stepped up close to him, so their conversation was just between them. "Bond, I need you to come with me. We have a handful of new recruits, all with questions. I need to pilot, and now. There may or may not be a galactic ship with a giant army on it right on our heels." She bit her lip. "I really need your help. Answer their questions, anything, we just need to get to the bridge."

"I don't care about lying to them about what happens, so just tell them the truth." She added before turning away and leading the group to the elevator. "Everyone this is Bond! He's our engineer!"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Bond Mason Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Rina Snow Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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#, as written by Hoga
Austin was once again grabbed violently grabbed by the captain. He got another scowl on his face. He was thrown violently in line with the group of people now in the hanger. He looked completely out of place. A group of grown men and women, and others. And then him. A small human boy. The sad thing was he was easily 4 times as old as most people currently in the hanger.

He saw a number of them look over at him and give him an equal number of looks. Looks of superiority, confusion, disgust. He didn't care. He'd done and seen more then most of these people would see in a lifetime. He looked forward towards the captain. Everyone was talking. Everyone was trying to get a word in. He waited calmly. He didn't really get the impatience of others. Then again, others aged and died, so he assumed there was a lot he didn't understand. Mortality was a strange concept to him. He had been like this so long, he forgot how anything else felt.

He looked at all the others with a sickened look. The crew she'd hired on so far looked ragtag, but this wasn't ragtag. It was scrapping the bottom of the barrel.

Regina addressed everybody. "Okay, everyone, walk and talk please. We are heading to the bridge!" He assumed he'd been hired, more or less, and joined the walk. She stopped them when they reached a man working in the corner. "Everyone this is Bond! He's our engineer!" Austin loved working with engineers. They made and fix the physical components of the machines he loved. He looked up at the engineer, with an amount of respect. He wanted to stick around, but he heard the captain say something about an A.I flying the ship. He walked up to her, not having to pull her pant leg to get her attention this time.

"I'm aware your pretty mad at me right now, but if getting out of your little prison in no time flat is any indication, I'm good with technology. I've done a scan on all your systems, and If you'd let me acompany you to the bridge, I'd love to get to work optimizing and updating all of your systems. I'll even give MAK a few useful tweaks while I'm at it. Besides. I don't have the stomach for things like this anyways." He stopped talking, but then realized he should try to be a little more formal, hoping to decrease the tension. He added "Oh sorry, Captain."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Dedrik Vals Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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#, as written by Centi85
Dedrik's filling in for the Captain didn't last long. The first line of recruits seemed a bit on edge, confused or nervous and the man did his best to lessen any tension. When a new presence made itself known on the man's shoulder, he turned just slightly, only to find that it was the Captain.

"Thank you Dedrik." She said. "I will take it from here."

Straightening slightly and giving a brisk salute, the Vasparti nodded. "Aye Captain," he said simply before retreating off to the side. From here Dedrik took silent stock of everyone present, memorizing faces, noting how people held themselves or acted near others; not a detail was missed in the man's analysis. The only thing that bothered him was the way the Captain had so readily accepted the rag-tag group before her, as well as the hasty departure from the station. Making a mental note to gather more information later, he then returned his attention to those trying for their interview. The Fotiss' show was embarrassing to say the least, and the other woman's ended in a less than appeasing display, some sort of reunion with her apparent sister, Saein.

The man was trained for a more professional demeanor in public, and to keep emotions and personal relationships out of his work for the best mission results. That and of course to not take drugs, a piece of the conversation between the two women and the Captain that he'd just caught. Though, considering the current situation, he supposed the precursor wasn't so terrible.

The Captain however, it seemed, was becoming overwhelmed. Dedrik knew it, and he was sure that she was well aware too that there was just too much to do. He nodded silent approval when she finally decided to hand over the reigns to Bond, the engineer.

When the small... child, approached the Captain though, is when Dedrik stepped forward to offer assistance. He knew that Regina had locked him up purposely, and actually found it surprising when he escaped. The duration of which it took him to complete the task wasn't too bad either, but now wasn't the time for admiration over minor details, especially considering the circumstances in which the boy was detained in the first place.

"Captain," he began, "Is there any way I could help in the current situation? Perhaps keeping this miscreant from further trouble?" Nodding to the boy, he was simply doing what he was trained for: to try to fix the most immediate hindrance. Because he knew it wasn't attending to new recruits now, Dedrik found the title belonging to the one person stopping the Captain from proceeding with piloting her ship. Waiting for a response, he'd accept any other duty given to him too, of course.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Ann thanked the captain. She would talk with Regina again later, sometime when the whole ship wasn’t in a hurry. She’d like to know what information she should be researching first, and it seemed the captain didn’t know how to manage her workaholic sister yet.

She had some difficulty finding the hole in the wall. Saein wasn’t helping, and Ip didn’t understand what she was looking for. When she had finally found it, a thought stopped her. “Who is MAK?” she asked.

“I’m MAK, I’m the ship AI. Welcome aboard!” said a voice that seemed to be coming from the ceiling.

Good. AIs couldn’t use drugs. “Thank you, MAK. If I throw something in this hole, will it immediately be gone forever?”

“I can make it so.”

“Then make it so.” The small box disappeared into the hole. A hatch closed in front of it, and the drugs disintegrated into subatomic particles. Interestingly, and unknown to any scientist at this time, the process caused the same box to appear in an alternate universe, where it crashed into a skippyball-sized planet and wiped out all of the microscopic dinosaur-like creatures on it.

Ann didn’t join the group on their walk with the captain to the bridge. Saein could tell her anything she needed to know now, and there was no time to lose. Any time lost now meant much more time lost later. She pushed Saein into a bathroom. “Get it out.”

Saein refused. “Someone has been hacking us. I shouldn’t waste time on sleeping while I have to track down a saboteur.”

“There was a boy with technology all over him,” Ann recalled, “it seems the captain locked him up and he managed to get out by himself. Then she hired him along with the rest. Could that be your hacker?”

Her sister was surprised. “A hacker boy? But then what is this?” She brought back the unknown scent from memory, and shared it through the skin link.

“That’s... hm... I’m pretty sure that’s a tripod synth. As far as I know, those things don’t hack. Wait, are you saying there’s one on the ship?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Saein sighed. “Alright then.” She stuck her finger in her throat, and... nothing happened. “Stupid drug” she grumbled.

Ann imagined the two most nauseating things she knew, maggots and eye surgery, and combined them into an image of a maggot being removed from inside an eye. She passed the image and feeling on to Saein before she lost her own lunch. That worked. “Okay, now drink.” She felt uncomfortable telling her older sister what to do, things normally worked the other way around between them, but it was necessary.

“That shit burns even worse on the way out” Saein complained.

“That’s how you know how good it is for you. Now, do it again.” She made Saein sick another time, told her to drink again, and repeated the process.

“You’re killing me.”

“No, Saein. You’re killing yourself.” She lovingly stroked Saein’s back. “I think that was enough.”

“Where did you even get that stuff?” Ann asked while Saein cleaned up. She had been told about Shifters, and recognizing the effect of the drug was pretty easy, but she had never encountered it before.

“I stole it from Uney when I quit.” A small smile appeared on Saein’s face, she wished she could have seen that bastard when he found his drugs were gone.

“So... let me get this straight. The guy who wouldn’t learn that women aren’t interested was using a drug that has a side effect of preventing learning.”

Saein stopped. “I hadn’t looked at it that way. I guess I’m an ass for not helping him.”

“You did right by stealing it. Anyway, it figures that you’d acquire an illegal drug on a state owned ship.”

Saein snickered at that last bit. “I love you, ’Rein”

Ann messed Saein’s hair. “And I love you. So, now what? I’d tell you to go get some sleep, but I know you won’t be able to. Anything I can help you with?”

“I doubt you would be much help filling bullet holes.”

“I would have to agree.” Ann gave her sister a last hug. “I’ll join our captain on the bridge, then. ’Til soon! ... MAK, guide me to the bridge, please.”

“’Til soon!” Saein replied. For a moment she wondered why she didn’t get a kiss, the reason was easy to guess. She’d go back to her room and brush her teeth before getting back to work.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Minerva (Minn) Darv Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Bond Mason Character Portrait: Regina (Reggie) Oris Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Annarein

When Ann arrived on the bridge, the rest of the group wasn’t there. Someone... the captain sat in the pilot seat, she probably shouldn’t bother her there, not now the Council Guards might be here any minute. She left the bridge, and asked “MAK, where is everyone now?”

“Engineer Mason took the other new recruits to the kitchen.”

“MAK, please show me to the kitchen. Or give me a tour of the whole ship, I don’t care.”

“Is there any place you would like to see first?”

Ann mentally facepalmed. Of course the AI had no sense of humor.

“How about the kitchen?” the AI suggested.

Or perhaps it did have one after all. “You know, MAK, I was in doubt there for a second, but I think I’m going to enjoy working with you. Yes, to the kitchen, please.”

-----

Saein

Saein felt the beginnings of a headache. She was also shivering, and feeling distracted by a nothing to her left. Why had she and Ann both thought things would be as simple as spitting out the pill and going back to work? Well, she was not going to have any fainting or drug related incidents today, like she had yesterday. She was too awesome for those.

Minn was no longer in the room, and, presumably, dressed. Minn’s clothes were nowhere to be seen, which confirmed the expected. Saein wondered why she was wondering about Minn’s state of dress at all. She stuck her toothbrush in her mouth, she’d make her teeth the brightest shining ones in the universe, and the whole crew would worship her and be at her feet for those shiny... fresh...

What the hell?

“Hello, Uney” she said to the mirror.

If she was going to be like this, it would be better to avoid interacting with others. Minn had left the bed a mess, so Saein made it. Not good enough. It had to look better than in the most expensive hotel she had ever visited. She made the bed again. And again. That was more like it. She perfected the rest of the room, too. When everything finally was clean and aligned perfectly, she had no idea what to do next, so she lay down on the bed. Had the ceiling always been this dark in color?

She could risk it. Leave the room and hope she could manage not to be an Uney to anyone. Actually, she had to leave the room. What if Minn returned? Being liked by Minn was top priority.

Saein stood in front of the door, hesitating. “I can do this” she said to herself. “I’m aware of the difference between my reality and actual reality. Self awareness is awesome. And now I’m going to fix some bullet holes. I’ll fix them good. Nobody is going to see there ever were any holes. Yesss. Bullet holes.”

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Bond Mason Character Portrait: Dedrik Vals Character Portrait: Mercia Lamora Character Portrait: Dia Fora Character Portrait: Valerio Vimes Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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"Welcome to the Nightwing. I've been on this crew since our grand voyage began...yesterday." Bond coughed. "But! I know a thing or two about her already and the food...is sublime. In fact, we should head to the kitchen now. Much better to answer questions around a table of food."

Pausing in her steps, she couldn't help but stare at Bond. The Mechanic already making his way down the hall to the café. The group obediently followed along. Yesterday?, Mercia thought. Jogging to catch up with the crowd, the brunette never stopped thinking. Did he just say, yesterday? Yesterday, this voyage started. They had already gotten attacked. Had men and women killed, and now they were being chased. By who? Who would do such a thing like start a war with Star Fleet? Are they stupid or something? What did this ship do to upset someone to that length? Or were they just at the wrong place, at the wrong time? Putting her hand to her head in frustration when they stopped in the kitchen, all the brunette wanted to do now is sleep. Her face was contorted in a sort of angry confusion that made her radiate a very unfriendly vibe. Her whole body tense.

"This is just one giant cluster fuck of confusion." Mercia muttered to herself, staring at the door the engineer had exited through. Maybe she should just sit and wait.

With a now growing headache, the blue eyed woman plopped down in a seat. It's sleek design holding not an ounce of warmth. Mercia didn't care at this point in time. She wanted, needed answers. How was she to help at all if she knew nothing? Not a single thing had been explained to her and it made her want to pull her hair out. Grumbling something along the lines of 'Damn ship...', she plunked her head against the cool surface of the table.

Setting

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Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Annarein

Sirens blared, and MAK told her to strap into an emergency seat. Well that was just great, she was going to need some time to figure out how to do that, and emergencies generally didn’t involve a lot of time. Ann sprinted back to the last doorway she had walked through, and locked her body in it, feet pressing against one side, back against the other. This was going to hurt.

Seconds later it began. Holding Ip in her arms, she was pulled in all possible directions by the weight of the big animal as the ship turned.

She wasn’t sure how long the battle and the flight after it lasted, time slows down when one is in pain and hanging on for life. When the ship finally stopped moving, she needed some help from Ip to get back on her feet. Her legs were exhausted, shaking, and almost stuck in the position she had been using them. Her back was one big bruise.

"Everyone is to meet in the hangar, by the land cruiser. The captain will be down shortly to get everyone transported from the ship down to the planet." MAK forwarded an order from the captain.

Ann limped back to the hangar, leaning half of her weight on her furnak. Saein was already there, she had rushed to Ann as soon as she saw her, and lifted her on her back. “Ouch! How did that happen?” the older sister asked when she felt the pain in the back of the younger one.

“Couldn’t make sense of the emergency seats. H-had to use a d-door.” Ann shivered.

“I get it. Ouch.”

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Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Saein and Ann stood waiting by the land speeder for a while, waiting for the rest of the crew. “Might as well fix another hole” Saein said. She pulled a crate for Ann to sit on near the closest hole, gently put her sister back on her own legs, and set to work. She talked while working. “I’ll show you how to use those emergency seats when we’re back from whatever the captain wants to do on this planet. Cause you really shouldn’t do that door thing again.”

“Why is it a bad idea?” Ann asked.

“Because when the hull is damaged, the doors will close quickly and with force, without caring whether there is someone in them.”

Ann swallowed, imagining how she might have been mashed by the door.

Saein proceeded to give a summary of events so far, with emphasis on her mistakes and accidents, like using Shifters, saying stupid things while tripping on painkillers, hugging someone, and getting hired in the first place. “So I’ve done plenty of stupid things too, recently” she concluded.

“You’re not stupid,” Ann replied, making her sister feel a bit better for a moment. “... it takes a genius to fuck up like that.”

Saein gasped. “You... you... you...” Her laughing ended her attempts to find a word to put after “you”.

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Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Tom was quietly admiring the land speeder, when Saein and another Firni entered the hangar. The second looked in pain, and was leaning on her ...pet? He couldn't tell what it was. Neither of them seemed to notice him.
He shrugged and turned his attention back to the vehicle. It was a plain enough speeder, seated 20 people. Ancient humans would've called it an 'aeroplane', he supposed, although their old-fashioned aeroplanes didn't have ion drives, they had wings and propellers. How silly.

Saein and Ann (as he had heard her being called) were laughing now, casually insulting each other. It had been a long time since Tom had been as good friends with anyone as that.
He piped up then. "добавить форум хакер?" ... he slapped himself on the side of his head and tried again. "How're the bullet-holes doing?" he called to Saein. He walked over. "If you need a hand," - he waved his mis-fit hand - "then don't hesitate to ask."
He smiled and turned back to the land speeder.
"Nice speeder we got here. I'm wondering how this planet's gonna be. I hope it's not too hot. I hate hot places." Running out of things to say, Tom petered out and an awkward silence followed. He fidgeted for a bit, and turned back to Saein.

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Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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“Мне очень жаль, я не понимаю. Что вы хотите, чтобы мы добавили к чему?” Ann replied, ignoring the question about bullet holes and everything else Tom had said after slapping himself on the head.

Saein looked back and forth between them. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Пожалуйста, простите мою сестру, она не знает, как использовать слизь Чайка перевод” Ann said.

“Will you stop that!” Saein almost-shouted at her, pretending to be annoyed.

Ann laughed. “So, Saein, how are the bullet holes doing?”

“Not very well, considering that I’m filling them.” Saein stuck out her tongue (the more human looking one) at Annarein.

When Ann finished laughing, she suddenly turned very serious. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t be laughing this loud so soon after you lost some of the crew. Hi, I’m Annarein, please excuse me for not sh...”

“Du soft nen hernes!” Saein hissed at her.

“...for not getting up, I tired out my legs locking my body in a doorframe.” Ann hesitantly and with poor aim offered her hand for a handshake.

“Yeah, I’d love some help” Saein answered a question asked earlier, as if it were a continuation of what Ann had just said. Which it was not. “And what about this planet, Ann?”

“Rather dull, I’m afraid.” After that short answer, Ann introduced yet another change of subject.“Um, if it’s not insensitive to ask... never mind.”

Saein knew what Ann was wondering about. “If I understood correctly, Tom is part human, but I’m not sure how much.”

Ann nodded slowly. “I understand. I have a replacement part too, but mine has four legs attached to it.” She smiled apologetically.

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Character Portrait: Saein Vernig Character Portrait: Thomas Steelbeam Character Portrait: Annarein (Ann) Vernig
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Tom sort of just stared at Ann while she chucked Russian words at his face. That damn translator circuit in his helmet had been playing up again, which would also account for the fact that he couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"Sorry, my translator circuit seems to be playing up. I dunno why I just spewed random Russian words at you. Sorry about that. I think I heard th... did... you say that squidgy seagulls are nesting in your sister...?"

A bit of banter between the two sisters, and then:
"Hi, I’m Annarein, please excuse me for not sh...” -Saein said something in some language that wasn't Russian - “...for not getting up, I tired out my legs locking my body in a doorframe.”
Tom was a little confused. "For not sh... what? What was she going to say? Sh...shaking hands. I really hope it was that."
Out loud, he said: "I wouldn't worry yourself. It's fine, where I come from, you're lucky if people even bother to look at you when they greet you."
Then Saein switched back to the other conversation, accepting his offer for help, so he walked over to the wall beside Saein and poked at one of the bullet holes.
"So how exactly do you fix these?" He asked. Saein responded by re-asking one of his other questions, this one about the planet. All this conversation switching was beginning to lose him. He sighed at the answer Ann gave.
"Well, I hope we don't stay here too long then. Although, it will be nice to get my feet on some solid ground."
And then the subject changed again, as Ann nearly asked about his robotics.
"Don't worry about it. Really, I'm still more human than robot, but I had to have a little help, after I was in an accident. I'm not sensitive about it though." He smiled, and when Ann mentioned her four-legged friend, he bent down and peered at the thing. "How does that work then..." He mumbled, and then - realising she had probably heard - "...I mean, if you don't mind me asking..."