Shuttle
Jax had been silent for most of the trip back to the shuttle. Within the power armor, he'd had time to reflect on the past twenty four hours. One his first day of his first combat deployment, he'd been in an epic space-battle, been shot at, shot back at those people, killed a few of them, captured a man-squid, acquired a new piece of alien technology, met the Captain Hanako, got scolded by her, and accidentally slammed his tail in a door on his way to the Eucharis.
He could not make that up...
His stomach audibly rumbled.'
Oh, yeah, and he still hadn't eaten! There had to be at least one Nekoburger out in this far corner of Yamataian space, right?
The shuttle jolted a little when it hit the ground, bringing Jax back to reality.
'Thank the lord!' Jax groaned inwardly. These armor suits were kind of cramped for someone of his... Nepleslian proportions.
Shut up! He was not fat!
Shuttle Bay
Jax scrambled out of the shuttle as soon as the doors opened. He needed out of this tin can. He glanced around to make sure he wasn't needed anywhere else
PA Bay
Jax slipped into the bay as quietly as you could in a suit of armor. He wanted nothing to do with the squabble that was occurring. Another thing he learned about Yamataian culture in his short time here: when a neko is mad, you run. You run so far.
He placed the explosives back where he'd found them, same with his weapons. He set Candon's SMG on a rack with the others, hoping the officer would find it later. As for the alien pistol? He'd take it to his room and stash it for later study. Jax then walked the armor to one of the undamaged racks. He'd need to handle the others later. Maybe once they got the Eucharis to a repair station, he'd see what he could do. Now, the moment he'd been waiting for. The power armor opened up, and he nearly fell to the hard, metal floor. Jax felt his ears and tail perk up from their constricted positions. They felt so wonderfully sore!
With a few swivels and flicks, he felt the soreness in his ears ebb away. He did the same with his tail, all the while subconsciously purring.
Wait. Purring?!
Jax looked to the other Yamataians in the bay with him, a horror-stricken look about his features. He prayed they hadn't heard him.
You see, when Jax laid out the specifications for the Minkan body, he was still a little shaky with his Yamataian. Apparently, the consultant thought that Jax had wanted a few extra feline traits along with his augmented appendages. Namely, the ability to vocalize like one. It was unbelievably adorable to some, but unbelievably creepy to others, so he tried to repress it as best he could. Sometimes, however, it slipped out when he wasn't paying attention. So far, he could only purr, but the technicians had confirmed that more would make themselves visible over time, as he gradually adjusted to the body.
He stood, facing them awkwardly. Whether or not they noticed, he began to scoot towards the door, heading back to wardroom.
If anything, they would have a great story to tell their pals later.
"Hey, so I was in the PA bay when this cat-man stumbled in and just started purring!"
His ears pinned flat at the thought.
