Thomas Steelbeam's Story

As Eddie left the room, Tom looked up from his daydreaming. He wondered how long he'd been sitting there, just thinking.
He'd heard others talking to something called MAK, so he thought he'd give it a try.

"MAK, would you please tell me Rina's current position? I'd like to go find her."

MAK replied without a second's delay and it made Tom jump. "Thomas, Rina is currently in her quarters, asleep. I could wake her up for you, but I suspect she is still suffering from the ordeal at our previous location."

"Don't worry about that, then. I think I'll go take a wander," said Tom, standing and making for the door. He caught Alex's attention as he left. "Alex? I'm popping out to explore for a bit. If Rina turns up, could you tell her where I've gone? Thanks."
He left then, wandering through the ship's corridors until he came to the exit hangar.

As he walked out, he couldn't help but think how much this station looked like the previous one. Space was so boring sometimes. He hoped they'd land on a planet soon.
A short look around and he realised that Dedrik was currently making his way towards the nearest bar. From what he'd seen, that didn't seem like the sort of thing the guard would be into, but he decided that everyone had their little secrets. He quickened his pace, running for a bit, then slowing to a jog, and finally falling into step with the stern-faced man. Dedrik had noticed him as he approached, and given him a curt nod of greeting. Tom returned the gesture, and attempted to make conversation as they walked.
"Hi, I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Tom. Nice to meet you."
He extended a hand, and when it wasn't shaken, he let it fall by his side and continued walking in silence. It seemed Dedrik was concentrating on something. Tom followed his eyes to the bar, where the captain was just walking out of sight into a more secluded corner of the establishment. The Exburnan, Rokunam, had just left, along with a small lively girl in ...a witch's hat... ?
Well, now he'd seen everything.
Except, he hadn't, seeing as he didn't notice the hulking bot sitting hunched just outside the bar, watching the girl. Only when it moved did he see it, and made a beeline for it, having a familiarity with robots.

He walked up to the great big thing and looked at it. It was a bit odd, made up of random bits of robots, some of which he even recognised. It turned its massive head to look at him with its single eye, the lenses inside visibly adjusting to focus on Tom. It seemed unintelligent, just sitting there.

Tom lost interest and decided to enter the bar, sitting himself down on a chair in a corner, watching the events unfold before him. He wasn't one for alcohol. Even though he'd been legally allowed to drink since the age of 13, he never really liked it, and he found that it mucked up his proximity sensors, making him incredibly clumsy. He sighed, and raised a hand, to gain the barkeeper's attention.
"What can I do for you, sir?" The bartender asked, not quite managing to keep the look of curiosity from his face as he addressed the robot.
"I'd like glass of water please. No, make that lemonade."
"Lemonade, sir?" Damn. It appears this was not a universally recognised beverage.
"It's water and lemon juice, with sweeteners, and carbonic acid to add a fizzy sensation." Tom probably over-elaborated his description, but he wasn't taking any chances. Now the thought had crossed his mind, he really wanted that lemonade.
"I'll do my best, sir."

A few minutes later the barkeeper returned with a pint glass full of slightly yellow. bubbling liquid. It was a start.
Tom thanked the man, and rested the glass on the table, waiting for him to leave. If it was bad, he didn't want to make a show of it.
He took a sip, and promptly spat it out again.
"PPPFFFF!!"
What was that?! Wait... he recognised that taste from somewhere... it tasted rotten. Oh. Huh. Carbolic acid. Easy mistake. Tom discreetly poured the remainder of his drink into the base of a pot plant.
"That's the last time I'm asking for lemonade," He thought. He slouched in his seat and gazed out the window.

Alexander

Alex was busy tended to more wounded that he didn't notice Eddie and the robot leave the infirmary. Fear gripped his heart, but he easily located them on his datapad. He sighed with relief, although he wasn't sure Eddie should be up and moving around quite yet. Even if he wasn't. The pilot was a stubborn man, and judging from the datapad was heading to his bedroom.

Good. A nice rest in his own bed will do him good.

Alex's mind trailed back to the robot. He was asking MAK about Rina, the woman who helped fix up Dlew and Regina's leg. She must have gone to the barracks afterwards and nodded off. It happens. Still, the robot was a concern for the doctor. He shouldn't be wondering around with the dents in his body. That could lead to serious malfunctions later. He pulled out his datapad once more, and this time, sent a message to Regina.

The doctor understood her sudden depression, part of it was his fault, well, all of it was his fault. But maybe something like fixing up the robot would help get her mind off things. Alcohol wasn't going to solve her problems.

After sending the message, Alex turned back to the few crew members who still needed attending to.

Regina

Reggie was startled out of her conversation with Fotiss when she felt someone tugging on her pants leg. She looked down to see a small child smiling up at her. She stared at him bewildered. "Regina Oris? The child asked.

"Who wants to know?" She asked playfully.

Before the boy could respond, her datapad beeped and she quickly pulled it out of her pocket. She smiled down at the child once more. "This is important, give me one second." She flicked through a few items before finally getting to her inbox.

Regina,

I'm sorry about what I did, and I hope that you won't remain upset with me forever. I understand your pain right now, but we still have many crew members to attend to. One of them being that robot that you brought on. He was waiting for Rina, but she muse have dozed off in the barracks, at least that is what MAK is telling me. He left the ship a short while ago; I was hoping you could find him and help him out. I don't want him wondering around the station with those dents.

Thank You,

Dr. Alexander Greenhaven

Reggie sighed. She wanted to be mad at Alex for the rest of eternity, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He was right, the crew had to come first. She could deal with her spiraling alcoholism later. She turned to the child and then the Fotiss. "I'm sorry, but I have a crew to attend to."

She spun, shocked to see the robot already seating in the bar. Oh, how convenient. She stepped over to him, and held out her hand. "C'mon, let's go fix ya up."

Tom turned to see the captain standing over him.
"C'mon, let's go fix ya up."
He accepted her hand and she helped pull him out of his chair, both of them grunting a little, Regina from the metal weight of the robot, and Tom from the aches in his chest. Evidently he wasn't feeling as fit as he thought he was.
"Aw, just as I was about to get up and dance," he joked, as they made their way to the door and back to the ship. "Thanks again for hiring me, by the way. I can tell it's going to be an awesome job, from what I've seen so far. High five!" Tom pretended to go in for a high five with his wounded hand but deliberately stopped short and winked. He pointed to the hand. "This was nearly your face!" he said, grinning, still pleased with his 'catch'.

His sense of humour was certainly making up for the way his body felt, physically. There was a difference in the way Tom walked now, his wounds were obviously exhausting him, and it was showing in the way he dragged his feet and hung his shoulders. He looked down at one of the dents in his chest and poked at it gingerly with his working hand. Looking up at Reggie, he made to start a sentence, but sighed instead and looked down to watch his feet as they clunked along the ground.

He wondered how the captain was intending to fix him up. She'd have to at least remove his chestplate to knock out the dinks, and his hand would probably have to be mostly replaced. Maybe he'd have to swap it for a hook until a replacement hand was found. He smirked at the idea.
"Yarrrgh" he mumbled, earning a puzzled look from Reggie, and he laughed and explained his little outburst. "I remember watching a movie from the archives once, it was about a boy who never grew up. At the time I couldn't think of a more stupid idea, but to be honest, it's kinda what happened to me. I can't age now." He was unsure of whether that was a good thing or not, and he trailed off. He looked at his hand. "It's more difficult to repair a human hand, I suppose."

Valerio had watched the captain stumble away from the bar, dismissing the Exburnan as she did so. Clearly she was having a rough time of it, and her duty didn't seem to be making life any easier. Well wasn't that the truth. The girl continued to chatter on with the barkeep, and while he'd seen her before around here he'd never done so this close; and as far as he was concerned that had been a blessing.

"Another mate. Hows ya sister? Hear she's making a name for herself." He mumbled to the barman as another pint was placed in front of him

"She's fine Val." The man said before turning to another customer. Valerio watched them talking for a few moments before taking a long hard look at the contents of his drink and then back to the new patron. After the newcomer had been served he waved Jimmy over again before asking "First, how much have I had and as I dinnae think I've had that much; and second what are you serving me. As I swear you just served a robot. An it weren't no oil as far as I could tell."

"That I did Val, he seems down and in need of something strong. Couldn't convince him otherwise and he had the coin." Jim shrugged and continued to clean the glass in his hands, well as the cloth and the glass were both filthy it more or less just changed the shape of the rainbow sheen.
Valerio just shrugged back and chuckled before continuing with his drink for a little while longer, then watching as the captain helped the robot onto his feet

"What're you trying to forget mate?" He mused to himself, wondering what must be running through the mind of the robot, and catching snippets of what he said to her as they wandered away from the bar.

Regina

Reggie shook her head at the robot, he was a strange fellow. "I've been meaning to speak with you," She stated casually. "You keep telling my crew that you've been hired by me, but I never said that. You ran off before I could actually speak with you."

She turned towards him, stopping their walk back to the ship. "You've proven yourself as a valuable asset to the crew, but next time, don't just assume I'm going to take you." She stated bluntly. "You collapsed in my ship, and I woke you up. That doesn't mean you're apart of the crew."

She was about to continue when her datapad went off again. Sighing, and with a roll of her eyes, she pulled the object from her pocket and sifted through to her inbox. She read the message, and then turned back to where she was previously, where the little boy stood, now speaking with Rokunam.

"Excuse me a minute," She said to Thomas. "We'll get you fixed up in a second, there's something I have to take care of."

She made a b-line for the young child, and when she reached him, she grabbed his arm and pulled her along with him. She turned back quickly. "Anyone looking for a job, please meet me at my ship, the Nightwing."

She looked down at the child. "You're coming with me, you little ingrate." She snarled and pulled him along. As she passed Thomas she told him to follow her, quickly. The boy struggled against her grasp, but she continued to pull him along, ignoring his tries for escape.

They neared the hangar and Reggie quickly called for MAK. "MAK, I need this kid on lock down. Don't let him near any electrical devices, circuits, anything that he could use to gain access to the main computer."

"Right away, Captain." MAK replied. A door to the side of the hangar opened and Reggie through the boy in. The space was a small, metal cube. The only way to open the door was through MAK, and with captain's approval. Inside was nothing. Strong metal that was impossible to even dent. Even if someone could, there was nothing behind the walls except more metal.

"You can stay in there, until I have time to deal with you." She snarled. "The next time you threaten the safety of my ship and crew, I won't be as kind."

She told MAK to shut the door and put it on secure lock level 5. She didn't trust this kid, not at all. Thomas had faithfully followed her, and she turned to him, slightly flustered. "Let's get you fixed up now."

She walked over to the workbench in the corner, and patted her hand on the metal table. She hoped the robot didn't mind, she didn't want to do this in the infirmary. There were too many people down there being attended to by Alex.

"I'm going to have to shut you down," She explained. "I don't want to lose my hand when I'm removing your chest plate, okay?"

"Currently, I had just left the Captain at the bar. I suggested she should not be drinking. I apologise for attempting to leave her. Of note, we will be expecting new members aboard the ship, some of which I do not think will benefit us fully, however, that is ownly my humble opinion... I apologise again, but it seems the Captain is headed back to the ship, accompanied by the Steelbeam. I, however, have to deal with something possibly troubling toward the Captain and the ship. I will disconnect now."

Dedrik raises an eyebrow at the Exburnan's words, but didn't question. Although he didn't particularly enjoy the idea of more members, if the Captain thought it was necessary, then so be it. Besides, young or not she wasn't stupid. He trusted her as she trusts her crew, despite, but not totally disregarding, Rokunam's advice. Even so, he'd keep an eye on them, it was his job.

Onto another matter however, before he could say anything the creature had ended the call, just after saying he'd deal with something that may be troubling to the Captain and ship. That made Dedrik frown, but he assumed that the Exburnan could handle himself and call if any trouble arose. Other than that, it seemed the situation was under control, and it was just then that Dedrik saw the her. Snapping to attention, the Vasparti noted the young child it seemed that she was dragging along with her, as well as the humanoid robot. The boy didn't look at all please, and neither did she. Without speaking, Dedrik simply fell into line behind the party of three and accompanied them back to the ship.

Stopping in the hangar, Dedrik watched as the Captain spoke to the AI, then threw the boy into a small room occupying the side of the hangar. She then proceeded to begin work on the humanoid like robot, and though he had questions, they could wait until she wasn't as busy. His primary objective to ensure that the Captain was returned to the ship safely was accomplished, and thus the man turned to his own leadership training to handle any other small situations that may occur. Glancing around, he really had no other tasks. Being only military support, useful only in that field, being if and when combat was imminent, the man would be otherwise incompetent as far as helping to fix the hangar or whatever else. Instead Dedrik decided he'd do one thing he knew how to do in order to ensure safety and maintain a neutralized situation.

Looking down to his datapad, Dedrik took up positions by the hangar door. If new crew members were to be expected, old friend or not, and consent of the Captain or not, he'd simply feel better if he could at least get a glance at who boarded. Accessing the exterior cameras again, Dedrik didn't expect to find much but was simply following as usual, mandatory procedures. Golden eyes on the little screen, the man watched a woman walk up the ramp, then glanced up towards the door as she left view of the camera, and came onto the ship.

Turning just slightly, he took in her full figure, all accessories, identifying markings, etc, and nodded. Clearing his throat and moving his staff so that it wasn't in too much a menacing position, the man spoke, though his voice was devoid of all emotions. "Welcome to the Nightwing, name and business?"

"You collapsed in my ship, and I woke you up. That doesn't mean you're apart of the crew."
Tom dropped his head sheepishly. He had, of course, sort of hijacked his way onto the crew without asking. He decided to make a little test.

"Captain, I'm sorry. I wouldn't be offended if you decided to kick me off the crew. I can always ---"
"Excuse me."
Tom looked round to see the captain storming back to the bar, and he wondered if he'd upset her, until he saw the little scowling kid watching her approach. She grabbed his arm and dragged him back over, and continued straight past him, calling for him to follow quickly. Quickly?!

Tom ran to catch up, but the aches in his chest forced him down to a brisk walk instead, meaning that it took him a little longer to catch up.
When Reggie mentioned the kid being dangerous with electronics, he put another metre between himself and the protesting boy and eyed him carefully. He was carrying some sort of keyboard with him, which he noticed Tom looking at, and hid behind his back. Interesting. When he was thrown into the cell, he wondered if the cell would block wireless communications from inside. It should do.

The captain lead him over to a table, and he laid down on it, trusting her.
"I'm going to have to shut you down..."
Okay, now he had to say something. He sat bolt upright.
"Ma'am... I don't think you understand... this is like a life support system. If you shut it down, you'll kill me! You don't have to worry about losing your hand though, there are no gears around the chestplate. I won't be moving, anyway. Oh, and the squidgy fleshy stuff in the middle, that's supposed to be there, that's me."
Tom watched the captain's face change through various reactions as he spoke - surprise, confusion, and then acknowledgement - the final one told him that she understood now, and probably wouldn't kill him. At least, not by accident.

Tom lay back on the table, and brought his arms down to his sides.
"I'm gonna switch to anaerobic respiration now to make it easier for you, so I won't be breathing. If you take longer than an hour though, you'll have to replace the lactic acid filter in the left of my torso as well. Just saying."
He closed his eyes. Not that he needed to, but he thought it would be less weird for the captain to be operating on a robot that looked asleep, rather than dead.

He put himself to sleep, but left his hearing active in case of yet another emergency. Hopefully he wouldn't have to get in such a mess again too soon.

Regina

Reggie listened to the robot talk, and she stared annoyed. "I know how to operate on a robot." She stated through gritted teeth. It was too late, however, the robot had already laid day, putting himself to sleep. She rolled her eyes, tempted to just leave him like that and dump him at the next station.

She sighed, trying to calm her nerves. Her emotions were getting the better of her, which wasn't wise. Glancing behind her, she noticed a small group of people standing at the entrance of the hangar. Dedrik greeted them. Good, at least someone's helping out. She needed to keep a level head, if she was going to get people to fill the empty positions on the crew.

As she removed the chest plate from Thomas's body, she felt her stomach grumble. I'm starving. I should get Minn to make us all some food. I wonder where she is. Reggie glanced around her, hoping to find the pink alien standing in a corner somewhere, but to no avail. Another realization dawned on her. I wonder where Saein is... She rolled her eyes at the thought. Their probably together, doing inappropriate things. And poor Eddie, too injured to enjoy it.

Reggie couldn't help but smile at the thought. Speaking of injured. She would have to make a trip to the infirmary and check on everyone. Hopefully, Alex had everything in order. She did her best and beating out the dents in the plate. She would have to fill a few bullet holes that managed to get through the armor. Glancing down at Thomas's open chest, she sighed know she would have to go through a dig them out.

It didn't take too long. There were only a few bullets inside, according to the chest plate. Her hands were covered in oil and grease, but she was comfortable that way. Working on Thomas put her mind in a different mindset. Information taking over her mind, as she took out pieces and remembering what they were for and where they were located. When the chest was finished she reattached it, and wiped down the front.

Reggie moved on to his hand. It might have to be replaced. She got to work removing the smudged bullet. It completely lost its shape when it made contact with Thomas's hand. She pulled it out with a set of pliers, like pulling a tooth out of someone's mouth. She tossed it into a bin to her left and took a long look at the hand. She sighed. Definitely would need being replaced.

She spun, and made her way towards the cabinets of spare parts. She knew she had a robotic hand in here, somewhere. It definitely wouldn't match the rest of the robot, but it would due until they could get him a proper fix. She finally pulled it out of the bin, and stared at the immobile hand. It was brown, instead of the usual chrome, or shiny steel one would see today.

It was much older, but it would function fine. Reggie quickly unscrewed Thomas's hand and replaced it with the brown one. She wiggled her nose, and ran a hand through her long hair. Half way through, she remembered her hands were covered in grease. Fantastic. She could already feel the sticky material attaching to her hair. She grimaced. She didn't have time to shower, she had new crew members to greet.

She pulled her hair up, wrapping it into a ponytail. She informed Thomas that he was all fixed up and spun on her heel. She stepped up next to Dedrik, placing a gently hand on his shoulder. "Thank you Dedrik." She stated. "I will take it from here."

She nodded to the recruit, and then turned to the job seekers. "My name is Captain Regina Oris, and this is the Nightwing."

Austin had returned to work right after sending the message to Rokunam. He was looking for a way out of the little box. Which was difficult without messing without messing with the annoying onboard A.I known as MAK.

MAK was an interesting piece of work. Most A.I's were. They had made leaps and bounds with A.I's since he'd been around. No matter the case, they were somewhat challenging to get around. It didn't make it easier that he had to go through the A.I to get himself out of the little prison he was currently in. MAK needed Regina's approval on top of that. The second part wasn't hard, he could just search through security feeds and synthesize her voice. His goal was to do all of this without directly messing with MAK. His grin grew insanely large again. He liked challenges like this.

The first thing to do was to get eyes and ears on MAK. This took a little work. MAK controlled or had eyes on just about everything in the ship. If anything was messed with MAK would know. He had to go through some auxiliary programs that MAK didn't keep tabs on to avoid detection. By going through these, it would take MAK longer to find him. Between that and a firewall program that Austin had built in, he wouldn't be getting found anytime soon.

Next he needed to effectively distract MAK enough that he could mess with the security feeds without MAK informing Regina. He sent out some spiders, programs that are normally used to conduct searches, but in this case, they would make some systems malfunction. He didn't want it to be anything major, and it couldn't be in too many different places, he needed to knock out a system to get enough of a distraction, but it couldn't be anything big enough to have MAK alert Regina. After some thought, he decided to mess with the onboard communications. That way, even if MAK did find out, he couldn't warn her. He made it look like something fairly normal as well. Just a few shorts and the such, something MAK could probably fix alone.

After he sent out the spiders, and was convinced MAK wouldn't cause him problems, he moved to the security feeds. He grabbed as much audio footage as he could, making sure that Regina's voice would pass for MAK. While he did that, he searched for footage of Regina and the robot from earlier, as to not tip off MAK. He found what he was looking for, and put that on. He then made a synthesized phrase of Regina's voice, telling MAK to let him out. He finished just in time too. It looked like MAK had dealt with the spiders he'd sent out. He ran the video and audio for MAK, the take overr he did looked like nothing more then a blip to MAK. Regina's voice rang clear. "MAK! Let the kid out. I'm ready to deal with him."

He smiled as the door opened up. And he walked out, hopefully impressing the captain this time instead of pissing her off.

Tom heard the captain say he was done, and then swiftly turn and walk away. He sat up and turned his breathing back on, staying still for a moment while his system neutralized. An image of Regina's agitated face, gritted teeth, snarling at him, flashed through his mind. Why should she be so annoyed at him? She was going to shut him down! He told her not to to try and avoid her being upset at the death of another (almost) crew member, and she ended up getting upset anyway! He couldn't understand it. His brain kept going in circles until he was so worked up that he found himself hugging his knees on the table with his face screwed up tighter than a.. tight thing. It wasn't fair! He stood and started in the direction of the elevator, then changed his mind, then changed his mind again, and ended up sitting back on the table. His mind had completely seized up, unable to cope with the unfairness of it all. He had no perception of the emotions that Reggie could also be feeling, his mind was completely locked on his perception of the recent events. He shook his head violently, looked up, saw Regina addressing the new recruits, and walked over as casually as he could and tried his best to wait patiently to be noticed. He intended to set things straight.

When the captain finally noticed him, he stood there for a bit, thinking over his words, and began.
"Captain, I... am sorry for jumping onto your ship in such a crude manner. I want to start afresh, and be a normal crew member, so I've sent you my credentials in the hope that you'll consider them. Until then, I'll do nothing, say nothing, I'll just sit outside until you decide."

He turned and walked towards the hangar exit.

[Ignore please]

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."

"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.

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.

Thomas had half expected the captain to just take off without him. The look on her face before she operated on him said that much. It came as a surprise then, when she actually physically dragged him inside. He stumbled into the hangar again, and took a moment to steady himself, only to be taken aback by the captain's next words.
"Congratulations, you're all hired!"
"What? .... What?!" Tom audibly voiced his confusion. Half of him was overjoyed at being accepted onto the ship properly, the other half was wondering if she'd really meant that for him as well as the others. He sort of went quiet for a bit then, gazing into empty space while his brain sifted through a billion mixed signals that he'd received over the past hour. He finally came to the conclusion that he had actually been hired. This meant he would have money! He visibly jumped as the realisation and the excitement hit him, then looked around to check if anyone had seen it.

He recognised a face from the bar, Valerio's. He walked up to the man and greeted him.
"Hi again, we met at the bar. Heh. Funny thing...."

Tom then proceeded to tell Val his lemonade story.

"Congratulations! You're all hired!" Regina shouted to them. "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 grimaced at what she saw. "We're in an extreme hurry, actually."

What, just happened? Putting her finger in the air-looking as if to say some unneeded fact- but all that came out was a quiet 'Mmmmm.' Mercia was finding herself at a loss for words around this crew and their Captain. Did she just honestly hire all of us? She thought, fiddling with her vintage bags strap. Was it on a whim? Or was she just des- Looking towards her bag against her side, the brunette gave herself a small dose of fireworks. That didn't matter at the moment for she had left with the Nightwing. With all of her possessions in her room, on that. Stupid. Station. Groaning in exhaustion, she resisted the urge to stomp her foot like a child.

Looking back towards the Captian, the brunette noticed the Fotiss-now known to her as Dia Fora- make a very bad attempt at an introduction. Mercia could not find it in her to give two shits about what was spewing from his mouth. What she wanted to know was why they had just up and left the station. So abruptly that she was sure they could have possibly left someone behind. What kind of ship is this? Shaking her had, she made her way to Regina. Fora's introduction finished. Coming up beside Oris, she finally spoke.

"Captain, if I may ask a question."

Tom didn't manage to hear any response from Val, as the entire crew began walking towards the bridge. Everyone was talking. Then, just as he thought he was beginning to know his way around, they all changed direction and headed for the kitchen. The engineer was obviously thinking with his stomach. When they got there, Tom found himself a seat in a corner of the dining area and rested his head in his hands. He was all for getting to know the rest of the crew, but right now, he just wasn't up to the task. Obviously, he'd be polite and talk if someone started a conversation with him, he told himself.

He could smell food, but after searching the room for the source, he found none, and Minn was nowhere to be seen. That only served to make him more hungry, so he crossed his arms on the table, rested his head on his arms, and closed his eyes.

Tom was startled out of his reclusion by the klaxons and flashing lights, and stood up instinctively, just as the ship lurched downward. Stumbling into the table with a hefty crash, he couldn't help wondering whether this job was going to always be this painful. He picked himself up, and used the wall for support as he checked around to see if anyone else had fallen or got hurt.
"Is everyone alright?" he called, not really being able to see past the blinding red lights.
He saw the outline of a figure across the room, and stumbled towards them, only to be sent hurtling backwards by a sudden increase of speed. What the hell was going on?
MAK was insistently demanding that everyone used the emergency seating, but Tom had a better idea. He diverted some voltage from his main power cell into the suspension coils in his ankles, effectively turning them onto electromagnets and sticking him fast to the floor. He clomped out of the kitchen and up the hallway, hoping that he'd find someone to offer his services to, someone who could give him something useful to do. He thought about finding Reggie, but when he took in the movements of the ship, he realised she was probably piloting it.
At a loss, he stood for a moment and looked around at the chaos.

Tom turned, hearing Eddie's cries of pain from the room he'd just left, and walked back to help. He found Eddie leaning against a doorframe with a broken chair nearby, and guessed what had happened.
He eased his arm underneath Eddie's back to support it as he helped him up.
"Hey, you're supposed to sit on it, not headbutt it," he quipped, before smiling and patting him on the shoulder, and moving to pick up Minn.
She looked like she'd almost got onto one of the emergency seats, but got pretty bashed about in the process. He decided it would be best to leave the situation to the experts.
"MAK, can you get Dr. Greenhaven to come and have a look at Minn and Eddie?"

"I will notify him of the situation."

"Ok. Oh, and could you show me back to the hangar? I got a bit lost on the way here."

"Certainly."

Following MAK's instructions, he got back to the hangar to meet the other crew members at the land cruiser.

Valerio had mulled over Bonds words as he followed the group though the ship, so he'd only been aboard her for a day and it already looked that the ship had been through one hell of a battle. Though that did bring up the question of what had happened to whoever had had the position before him, and that wasn't exactly something he wanted to focus on at this point, but it would be a question that he'd need to ask. However before he could continue their brief conversation he had already begun to lead them off in search of food and such, which while certainly an important detail it was somewhat secondary to the armoury and the weapon systems and crafting capabilities of the ship as far as Valerio was concerned but he followed anyways as it was something he'd need to know eventually.

As they reached the canteen he caught the mutterings of one of the other recruits as she sat down at one of the tables "This is just one giant cluster fuck of confusion." while Bond said something about trying to find their cook Valerio took a seat opposite the the recruit he'd overheard as they'd entered.

"That may be a tad bit of an understatement like" he said to her just as Bond returned with a confused looking gentleman holding a bloody nose and someone who was clearly the ships cook in tow.

"All right friends," Bond began as he entered. "Allow me to introduce..." his voice cut off by the sound of klaxons as the ships AI made an announcement over the internal communications, something about the crew needing to secure themselves into emergency seating.

As the room descended into black and red due to the flashing lights, Valerio moved away from the table and reached the nearby frame of the doorway into the canteen, using it to prop himself up as the ship began to lurch violently as if thrown about on a stormy tide. As he felt his grip begin to loosen on the door frame he decided that perhaps making his way for the safety seats may have been a slightly better idea, but too late for that. Clinging on for dear life he pulled himself around the door to wedge his shoulder into the frame to garner a better standpoint; he just hoped he could hang on till the ship could steady itself.

---

Valerio looked around to see what the rest of the new recruits and existing crewmen were doing to weather this bastarding situation and caught a glimpse of the guy with the bleeding nose flying towards a chair as his own world view span. The ship around him was hurtling for what seemed like an age before it suddenly stopped as quickly as it had begun with pain. Blearily he looked around to see that he had been thrown from the door frame and into a nearby booth. While no doctor, he could guess that nothing had been seriously damaged due to the fact that he wasn't bleeding and just ached, but he'd just have to see.