RP: YSS Valiant Arrival

Henako had made his way back to Yamatai...and his face was healing fine. Suzi had fixed it up good. All there was now was a slight red line across his right cheekbone. It was fine. In actual fact, getting shot had been a good thing. This way he had managed to get back to the ship, and receive his orders. He was now a Taii, and he had come back to KFY Yamatai to board the YSS Valiant.

He had picked up a few items, and had made his way to the ship. Well... that looks nice He though as he walked towards the doors. As he stepped on to the ship he caught a smell. He wasn't sure what it was, but he liked it. "AI, where be the captain? Or am i the first here? Oh, and have you got a nickname? I ship I was at last did." He looked down at the floor, he could almost see himself the floor was so clean.

"Taii Henako Kusaki, you are indeed the first here. Congratulations. Yes I have been appointed the name of Val, I suppose it is short for Valiant, but that can be decided by you." The AI's head appeared in front of Henako. A soon as he had walked he she knew who he was. She had seen his file and picture.

"Cool." He was going to ask how she knew whom he was but couldn't be bothered to. "Where is the bridge then?" He began walking down the corridor, and turned the corner. A map appeared in front of him, with a little arrow in front of that, it pointed out the way to the bridge. "Thanks." He arrived in the bridge and sat down in the closest chair. He wasn't sure which desk he had sat at, but he didn't really care, as nobody else was there. "AI, please tell me when the Captain gets here." He smiled at the ceiling and shut his eyes.

The Jilanth that Arild had taken from the Horizon docked to the side of the Valiant, and the back hatch opened. Arild collected his luggage, and walked out of the door, "Give my regards to Kip." He called to the pilot who nodded in return. The doors closed, as did the airlock, and Arild was left in the corridor as the craft left.

Arild looked around him. So this was the Valiant, his new ship. His turnover certainly was fast, but this felt like a bit less of an insult than his last apointment, a Sakura. Impressive. He'd looked over the stats while he was on the Horizon, and it was both good and disturbing to be on a ship with such a powerfull main weapon. Ah well, that was the way the universe was going to.

Arild went to his quarters, talking to Megami on the way, "Megami-san, how many other members of crew are there currently on board?"

"One sir, other than yourself, one Taii Henako Kusati."

"Uhm, tell him that I'm here and willing to talk to him. He was on my last ship."

Arild reached his room, and entered it.

Val's head appeared in front of Henako, his eyes where still closed, but she didn't think he was sleeping. "Taisa Arild Bard has arrived on the Valiant. He say he will talk to you shortly." She smiled at the man, and waited for him to open his eyes.

"Thank you Val. I will go and meet him." This was said still with his eyes closed, although he could since that the head was still present in the room. Finally he opened his eyes and stood up. "Right, where is he then?" Once again the map appeared in front of him and he followed it, until he was outside the man's door. He knocked three times.

"YSS Valiant, this is Ke-T3-1a Theta-twenty-oh-nine carrying subject "Karin Marr", requesting permission to dock."

"Scanning...", came the voice of the AI over the comms channel. A second or so later, "You're cleared to pass, Ms. Marr."

"Wow. Nice sensor tricks you have there, Valiant," said Karin, grinning, "I like to pilot my own shuttles."

"Noted. I'm Val, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Val!"

"Likewise, Karin."

The Lion docked with the starship and set down in the bay, hissing as it adapted it's internal pressure to that of the inside of the Valiant. Karin turned to the pilot, a very bored looking neko. "Thanks for letting me pilot this thing in. I love flying!" she said and smiled, but recieving only a half-hearted "meh" from the girl, she raised one eyebrow and walked through to the back end of the shuttle, picking up her bags as she came to the ramp, which has just locked into it's lowered position. "Thanks again!" she called back to the cabin and stepped down the ramp into the brightly lit bay. "Hmm... well, I guess this is home for a while..." she murmured under her breath, and started toward the doors leading to the rest of the ship. "Val, could you inform any other crew members currently on board that I'm here?" she asked the AI as the doors slid open onto a rather lifeless-looking corridor, "I'm going to go dump my bags in... wherever my room is...". She tailed off, and then asked, "Where IS my room?".
"Down the hall on your left, then use the drop shaft to the lower level. Once there, pick your own... only two others are here anyway, the captain and the first officer."
Karin smiled and said to the air, "Thank you! Who is the captain, by the way?"

"Arild Bard."

"...oh."

ON>
Henako waited outside the door for a minute but Arild didn't answer. Henako didn't feel like knocking again so turned round. "Val is there anyone else on the ship? Arild isn't answering." Henako looked at the ceiling, he wasn't sure why, but did. the smell was still around him.

"Karin Marr has just arrived Sir. She is across the lounge from you.â€

Exactly an hour later, Arild walked into the lounge, looked around, and sat down on one of the chairs, taking a tactics book out of his pocket. Since he was in a warship again, he thought he might as well catch up on tactics.

ON>
Karin woke up slowly to the beeping of the small clock in the wall by her bunk. Fifteen minutes ship-time to the meeting. She sighed and rolled over - off the bed, with a thump. "Yow!" she yelped, and stood up muzzily, rubbing her side. The short sleep had done nothing for her, except made her feel far more tired. Karin stretched, then palmed the door open and stepped out into the lounge, intending to get a coffee from the dispenser on the other side.

"Miss Marr, good of you to join ... well just me actually. Our other member of the crew has not yet seen fit to join us," Arild said with a half-smile, "You look a little worse for wear, a certain 'I just went to sleep without bothering to change my clothes, and in a position that's going to play havoc with my back' look. It really does play havoc with your back, I should know."

"Well I did arrive at oh-two-hundred ship-time captain, after piloting a badly kept shuttle for a day and a half" Karin grinned sleepily, "and I think I did pretty well, all things considered." She walked around the middle circle of chairs and sofas to the coffee dispenser, keyed for a bulb of strong black and sipped from it as she walked back to the middle and sat down cross legged on one of the cushions attached to the floor, rolling her shoulders with click. "...Ow. You're right, I did sleep badly." she winced, and took another sip of coffee.

"Don't worry about it, there is a nack to sleeping like that, and you'll aquire it. One of the many things I've learnt during my time in the military is to sleep whenever you can, since there's no telling when you'll be able to sleep next. So what made you leave the Destiny? The way things where left NovaCorp where left to stay onboard. Something change?" He asked calmly, trying to get some of the authauritarian tone out of his voice.

"Yes. The Neps took over, and that was change enough without the obligatory comments, suggestions and actual physical assault." Karin shrugged and looked a little sour, "The officers in charge promised to keep them in line, but in a ship that size? Impossible... so, I drew the line at physical stuff, and shot a guy in the leg with a stunner who was getting a bit too close, if you get my meaning. After that I jumped in an escape pod and got thrown down to the surface of Nepleslia, spent a few hundred on a ride to yamatai with a star army ship and then signed up myself when I was nearly out of cash." She paused, taking a sip of coffee and looking up at the domed ceiling before continuing, "I don't really think I owe NC anything - they left me in a situation like that with no options."

"No options? Didn't you go and talk to Tanjo? He was your representative wasn't he?" Arild frowned, so the ship had got even worse than he expected. His error, his mistaken judgment, his inability to do anything as the ship fell down around him, had caused so much pain ... sexual abuse would not have been tolerated while he'd been in power.

"Think anyone would be able to cover half the ship to get to a superior with the ability to complain to his superiors, all with a mob of angry gun-wielding neplesians behind me?" She grinned and continued, "Naw, it was escape pods all the way. I doubt they'll even miss me. Friend told me they've got worse problems than harassed engineers abandoning ship... Mostly because they have no clue what to do with the ship aside from use it as an orbital extension of funky city." Karin finished her bulb of coffee and sighed, setting it down on it's flat base beside her. "Besides the star army pays more and, to quote a famous saying, you get to see new things, meet new people... then blow them all up.â€

Henako stepped through the door at exactly four-oh-seven. He had fallen asleep and as it happened it had been quite a pleasurable sleep. He noticed the two other's already in the room and bowed his head slightly he hadn't meant to be late, even sleep. However he was so tired, and took even five minutes break to have a small rest. "Hi guys. Sorry I am late. I fell asleep, of which i had no intention of doing. So once again, sorry." While he was saying this he walked over to the coffee machine, and pressed the button for a milky coffee. He loved it. He put the cup to his lips and tasted the luxury item. It was great.

He walked slowly over to the chairs and sat down next to Karin. "So is everything alright then. What did I miss?" He beamed at them both and put the cup down on the floor, waiting for a reply.

"Nothing much, myself and Miss Mar here where just talking about the Destiny, branched into different topics and so forth. You look significantly better refreshed that Miss Mar, probably a result of a good sleeping position." Arild looked at Karin slyly.

Doshiki stepped off the transport that had just arrived from its long journey. He guessed that multiple ships had already arrived, or at least a small portion of the crew would be onboard. He looked around for some life,

Since everyone was in the lounge, Megami appeared as an holographic avatar, "Doshiki-san", she bowed slightly, "Welcome to the Valiant, I am Val, the Megami. The rest of the crew are in the lounge. Would you like me to show you where that is?" She had the appearance of olive skinned Neko with long black hair.

Doshiki nodded, "That would be very nice Val please lead the way."

Val nodded, and floated down the corridors to the lounge, indicating the door. "They're in there Doshiki-san." She said pleasantly.

Doshiki bowed to the Megami and smiled. "Thank you Val, I may have a few questions about the systems. But I'll ask later." he slowly floated down into the lounge looking around inside.

Megami disappeared, her form dissolving in a shimmer of light like that of a mirage.

Karin looked up as a short, young man in star army uniform entered the lounge and frowned. "Captain Bard? Behind you, if you will." she said and stood, saluting.

"Uhm?" Arild turned his head and seeing Doshiki stood up, "Ah, another crew member, come in and join us. We're just getting to know each other, getting some social cohesion and so on."

Doshiki bowed "Nice to meet you all, Im Itto Heisho Doshiki Noshimata. I'm sorry If I haven't heard of any of you I just got out of the academy." He spoke his hands moving to add to the slight ease in which he talked.

Henako looked around the room. More people joining the party, well something like a party, just with no fun in it at the moment. Henako stood up along with the other. "Nice to meet you. Doshiki." He made a small bow and stood straight again. Waiting for something to be said.

Karin sat down again, smiling, and said, "Well, congrats on your first ship Doshiki. Don't stand over there, grab a coffee, or a seat or both!", nodding her head to one of the puffy-looking seats by the trio.

"Ah they aren't teaching any of my exploits in the academy yet, what a shame." Arild gave a cynical little smile, "Don't worry about being fresh boy, we where all fresh out of academy at one point or another." Arild sat back down in his seat.

"What was the academy like? Seems so long since I left there." Henako smiled and drank some of his coffee. "Have some of this stuff, it's good." He smiled again and sat down.

Doshiki smiled grabbing a cup of coffee, before sitting down nodding at what Arild said. "erm, well, I wouldn't know how to compare it, but its still just as hard I think" he smiled "Erm, well anyhow may I ask your names first before we continue?"

"Taisa Arild Bard, captain of the Valiant, and responsible for its crew." Arild said with a wave of his hand.

"Sorry, I should have offered my name when you said yours. Taii Henako Kusaki. Pleasure to meet you, once again." Henako smiled and looked at the man. "You are with a good crew, who have all served on the same ship before. Though we didn't know each other, and the ship was taken over. But let's skip that. Looking forward to serving in battle? This is a common question asked." Henako beamed at the man. He was finding this rather fun.

"Shoi Karin Marr, currently the only engineer on board the ship. Also, only female crew member!" Karin grinned. "Try anything and ya lose everything... worth having."

"Ah she is friendly really." Henako laughed. "I haven't really known you that long either though."

Doshiki smiled "Don't worry I wont be trying." he let out a slight smirk. "I'm Doshiki as I've already said. I'm in comms and helm, and yeah I'm looking forwards to the excitement of a battle"

"And a question that is asked a little to often," Arild mused, "I can't say I look forward to battle, you can't rival it for exhilaration, and being reminded your alive, but ... with death so present, I wouldn't look forward to it."

"Though it is totally different to what people say it is like. Or what you read. You will just have to see. This is the case with all of use. I know I found it scary." He smiled.

Karin raised an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, we ARE inside a technically invulnerable ship, and are equipped far beyond most NEPLESLIAN's standards."

"Oh trust me, these ships aren't invulnerable." Arild gave a hollow laugh, "This is a tough one, sure, and can take a lot of punishment, but it's not invulnerable." And then he laughed again, "And I wouldn't say that beating Nepleslia in technology is a great achievement Miss, the SA is more advanced, and not held back by such a corrupt and chaotic society"

"Well, does it really matter. All that really does matter is the situation we are in now. That is a relaxing time, for a bit, and a nice hot coffee. Anybody feel like some music?" Henako stood up and began a salsa dance that he learnt not to long ago. "It's quite simple really." He looked at them all and laughed.

Doshiki smirked "well, whatever we are its quite a impressive ship none the less."

"Well I'm certainly not dancing." Arild sat back in his seat, "One of the few advantages that getting older brings, along with additional wisdom and decreasing faith in the human condition, is the right to refrain from dancing. And yes, it's impressive. But it's a weapon first and foremost. We shouldn't forget that."

"Mmhmm." smiled Karin, "Anyhow, if you wanna choose yourself a room Doshi? Plenty of empty space." She gestured around the lounge, indicating all the doors that were open, without occupants.

"So how many will we have on the ship Arild?" Henako continued the dance for another three moves and then sat down getting straight back to his warm coffee. "Ahhhh.....coffee."

"Currently I have no idea, we're still being assigned people, and have been given no orders to depart." Arild shrugged. "So right now there is little to do but get familiar with the ship."

"Any ideas as to where we will be going?" Henako asked. He was genuinely interested.

"Again, none." Arild sighed, orders are slow in coming through right now.

As Sakue walked past the airlock, she stretched tiredly and yawned loudly. She slept during the whole travel. As soons as the large airlock doors closed behind her, the Megami appeared right in front of her.
« Welcome abroad, Santô Hei Sada Sakue. »
Sakue stepped back, surprised.
« Oh, hi, I thought I was going to bump on someone. Nice to meet you, errr...
- My name is Val, I'm the AI of this ship. Nice to meet you too. »
Sakue smiled.
« Val, where are my quarters ? » She adjusted her backpack « This is kind of heavy. »
An hologram of the ship's map appeared, with a red dot blinking.
« Right here, but may I suggest you to meet the other crew members in the lounge first ?
- Sure.
- The lounge is located here. »
The blinking dot moved.
« Thanks, Val. »
The hologram vanished.

A few minutes later, she entered the lounge. There was already four (ooc : That would be Henako, Karin, Doshiki and Arild, right ? am I missing someone ?) people here. She bowed respectuously.

« Uhm. Hi, my name is Sada Sakue. I'm... errr.. » She suddenly realized that she didn't recieved any specific assignment yet. « I'm part of the crew. » Her faint, intimidated voice was barely understandable. « Uhm, nice to meet you ».

She stood idly, in front of the door, not knowing what to do.

ON>>
"Ah, yet another new member of our ship, come in, come in, sit down, and tell us something about yourself, Miss Sakue." Arild turned in his seat to talk to her, but did not stand up, "I'm Taisa Arild Bard, captain of this vessel."

Karin looked over her shoulder and smiled at the neko, gesturing for her to come over. "Hey there... Umm... Miss Sakue. I'm Karin Marr, the engineer in these parts. Welcome on board the Valiant!"

Sakue bowed again at Arild."I hope I won't be disappoint you, captain." , she said, while taking a seat. "Anything you would like to know about me?"

Arild smiled, "This is hardly a formal occasion, just a little about yourself, anything really, favourite animal, hobbies, interests, anything that you think might make us understand you a little better. We're just trying to get some of that social cohesion going.â€

There was a hiss and at long last the shuttle door slid open. The light of the docking bay drifted inwards, slowly illuminating Garret's face as he caught his first glimpse of his new assignment. He stood, slack jawed and wide eyed at the glistening room before him. Every surface was polished to a glowing sheen and the wow that managed to slip from his lips echoed quietly as he staggered off his ride and into his new home.

He turned back to the pilot behind him and managed a feeble wave which contrasted sharply with the solid salute and understanding smirk he received in return. The shuttle journey from the planets surface up towards the Valiant had been short but he'd exuded enough nervous excitement to make bunch of preschoolers look like amateurs, and by some quirk of fate the pilot understood exactly where he was coming from. Garret watched the small vessel take off and depart the ship before turning back around and once again taking in the glory that he was so unworthy to behold.

He let his bag duffle bag slump to the floor, freeing his hand to trace along the flawless walls and feel exactly what it was like to be on a ship like this - to be on...

...the NG-S2-02 Valiant - A Sakura Class Gunship possessing enough firepower to rip an enemy vessel from the face of reality itself. I'd hoped to get a space bound position after I'd finished my training at the academy, but I never imagined I'd be stationed on one of these.

Her soft blue glow reflected off the polished walls as she materialized behind him. Garret turned slowly to face, what he could only guess was, the ship's Megami and its artificial soul. She was a beautiful woman and one who was undoubtedly more than capable of taking care of herself and her ship.

"Hi...â€

ON>
Karin braced against a corridor wall and pushed off to the other side, catching hold of the edge of the wardroom's hatchway and pulling herself inside to land on her toes, getting used to the sudden gravity as she looked around the inside of the large room. "Wow. Lots of stuff in here... where to start..."

"With food probably," Arild called after her, directing his own body up with the help of the loops, up to the Wardroom, and sliding in. The room was big, containing booth tables in the corners, and rectangular ones in the center, with a galley and a scullery off to one side. The floor was marble, the seats of leather, and the ceiling was a mural of some of the more famous officers of Star Army doing what they did best, which was usually fighting, "I'm not there either I see." Arild said cynically.

Sakue nearly missed the entrance of the wardroom, and stumbled when the gravity suddenly went from zero to standard, holding onto a chair at the very last minute. "Whoops. It's been a while since i didn't serve in a starship, heh."

Garret's tools rattled as he flung them onto the first top bunk he saw. The pilot as pristine as the rest of the ship and somehow it didn't feel quite right. He was used to the barracks being full of commotion and people - people who knew each other and what they were going to do - here it was a far too quite for comfort although he guessed that that'd change soon enough. He waved his hand a bit and a map appeared out of think air. He stopped a moment to gawk at the nodal system in action – something he'd only read about up until now. He noted the blinking red dots that were moving around the screen. Going for the kitchens no doubt. His stomach grumbled and reminded him that such a thing wasn't actually a bad idea - so he shrugged a bit and set off. He'd be there in a couple no doubt – and the easiest way would be through the lounge. I wonder what the rest of the crew is going to be like. I wonder what the Captain is going to be like. Should I introduce my name first or my job? What about rank...ah, stuff it! I'll figure it out when I get there. He looked a bit worried at that but continued to march bravely onwards. It took a few minuets of getting lost, turning around and generally feeling like an idiot when he finally realized there were sign posts in the anti gravity corridors before he managed to navigate his way through the lounge and towards the wardroom. He stopped for a second outside the door and with a deep breath he opened it...

Yue bit slightly at her lip. New arrival on a strange vessel, first assignment with any merit. Nervousness abounds. "...I wanted this... right..?" Speaking to herself, a habit she used to control her tendency towards losing her mind in rage. "...Valiant? Seeking direction. I must notify the appropriate officers of my arrival." Eyes never shifted from straight ahead, and she stood as though a terracotta statue. A wonderful mask for the well of uncertainty between her ears.

Val apeared in front of Yue, or at least a holographic representation, "Welcome to the Valiant, Shoi Lin Yue," she bowed, "Taisa Arild Bard is in the Wardroom, and other members of the crew appear to be congregating there, I advise you go there as well if you wish to meet him."

Karin grinned at Arild and straightened up, stepping toward the doorway to the galley as she cast her gaze around the room. "This place is pretty strange... Marble and artwork inside a small scale starship, and in the wardroom, no less." She turned around in the doorway and smiled, "Lucky to be on a ship like this, huh? ... Anyway, I hear you cook great bacon. Come on!"

Yes I believe I spread rumors to that effect," mused Arild and walked in a measure pace to the scullery where he routed out some rashers of bacon, before going into the kitchen and retrieving a frying pan and some oil, "And are you going to be cooking anything for us Miss Karin? Might as well make this a team building exercise."

"I'll set the table" said Sakue, chipping in.

The slid open and Garret floated in head first......into the floor. Ah yes, what lovely marble tiling. This is the wardroom isn't it? He coughed a bit and pushed himself to his knees before shaking his head clear. Yep...they're probably staring at me now. His heels clicked together and his hand went to his forehead as he jumped from his knees to a standing salute - taking in the people in front of him before speaking.
"Technical Sentry, Joto Hei Garret Anderson reporting for duty aboard the YSS Valiant Sirs!

"Hmmph. There's not much in the galley..." Muttered Karin to herself. "What do we do, ask Val for what we want, THEN make it ourselves?" She looked around the small, nearly featureless room that contained just a solid, smooth block for cutting and preparation, and a recess in the wall that presumably was the cooker. "Am I right, Val?" She said, addressing the ship.

"I can certainly make whatever you desire. If you wish to complete its construction that is your own look out." Val's voice came the ceiling, "I believe you people get some satisfaction from doing that."

"Alright Val. Some bacon then, if you would be so good." Said Arild, looking at the ceiling. "Uncooked."

Sakue bowed to Garret and Lin. "Hi, I'm Santo Hei Sakue Sada. Welcome aboard. The captain is cooking some bacon, please make yourself comfortable."

He relaxed his salute slightly and looked out across the wardroom. There were two beautiful women standing right in front of him. He twitched slightly and bowed back out of habit. Stuttering slightly he made his reply.

"P-pleased to meet you both. Do you think I could disturb the captain for a moment to inform him of my arrival?â€

Yue raised an eyebrow cautiously at the meat. Something she had little desire to consume. The bacon was right out - she did not touch it. However for the sake of politeness, she did sample the steak, making a great effort not to spit it across the table, managing even to look somewhat pleasant as she chewed - pleasant in the manner of a cat ready to rend flesh from bone, to be precise. "...thank you for the meal... Captain..." She managed this much straight-faced.

"My pleasure, I'm sorry if you're not enjoying it as much as I'd have hoped. I'll be taking people's requests and setting up a roster soon, to make sure that everyone has what they want, and everyone cooks." Arild took another bit of his bacon roll, "If you want I could rustle something up now." Arild had been around people a long time, and new enough about reading body language to see she didn't enjoy the meal.

Sakue sampled the bacon eagerly. It was her first meal since she took the shuttle, and she was hungry. When dealing with meat, she always enjoyed it raw, yet this bacon was tasty. "Great !" she said, while taking a second, larger bite. Yue didn't knew what she was missing.

From the death glare coming from Yue's direction it was quite obvious that she wasn't a meat eater. Garret contemplated it for a moment as he stared into his empty cup.

Doesn't make much sense to me – we're all designed to eat the stuff. Now I can understand if she doesn't like it, but if she's just a vegetarian for the sake of being a vegetarian...

The captain's quick response struck the young solder. Mechanics was one thing but cooking was something he'd never, ever considered doing. He shifted subjects away from Yue and began pondering the alien subject that was preparing food before he started to draw some strange parallels between the Grease Monkey and the Chief...

"Well, since we're all here together we might as well get to know ourselves a little betterâ€

Clasping a hand to the side of her head, Yue added a bit more to her request. "...fresh lemons, too. And a bit of brandy..." She quickly seperated a number of eggs, sought out a whisk, beat the whites into a delicate fluff. She dived then headlong into the rest of her grand schemes, and within mere minutes was veritably coated in flour, egg, chocolate - as was much of the kitchen.

Yes, she was capable of creating absolutely divine pastries. But she sure as hell made a mess doing it.

"Captain, orders have arrived for you from Taisho Ketsuri.â€

Meanwhile, Sakue, still in the wardroom, cleaned the table as everyone went to retrieve the NH-18. Former Mishu controlled territory, heh ? Oh, well, we kicked they arse once, it'll happen again. When she was done, she yelled at Yue, who was still in the kitchen : "Hey, we finally got orders, and we have a new crew member. They all left to the shuttle bay and I'm going to catch up with them !".

Not waiting for an answer, she jumped in the zero-gravity passageways. Bouncing skillfully on the walls, she rushed head first inside the shuttle bay, performing a backflip right before the gravity kicked in, and landed on her feet. She grinned. Great, I'm starting get the feeling back.

She turned back to see what was happening in the room. Looking for the new member. "I've told Shoi Lin Yue that we recevied orders and that we were here."

She couldn't find the NH-18. "So, ummh, where's the new... Err..." Her head tilted as she noticed the coffin. She quickly deducted that the NH-18 was either already dead, which was very unlikely, or hibernating in that thing. "Is that our new playmate ?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"New crewmember. Great. It best not want food, as I'm not changing everything now..." She smirked, did not leave her cooking, continued whisking away at a mousse.

A grand feast of chocolatey proportions, she was preparing. Pain au chocolat garnished with chocolate-brandy fudge... and lemon mousse. Something she might once have killed for, before discovering how very simple it was just to manufacture it herself.

No, she would meet the new crewmember before too long, and she would catch up with her orders later. She would not under any circumstances leave her cooking. Well, maybe if the Mishhu attacked... that might draw her away momentarily.

"So... where are we headed once this thing's strapped down, captain?" Asked Karin. "Hope it's somewhere interesting... or at the very least, fun in comparison with boredom."

"Exploring the south-east quadrant, looking for planets that have been occupied, or are occupied by the Mishu, or general Mishu activity, and then to take whatever action is necessary." Arild replied, although he was getting just a little tired of repeating himself, "With the secondary order of testing out this NH-18. And most things are fun in comparison with boredom, other than oblivion. And seeing this thing in action should be interesting."

Sakue knocked twice on the coffin. "I thought NH-18 were living things. Why is he stored in this coffin ?"

"They evolve based on their surroundings, right?" Said Karin. "I'm guessing that if we let this guy out on board the ship, it'd get a bit too social, or become unsuitable for quick adaptation to combat..." She blinked and grinned. "Or, because it's the test model, they don't want to see what it can do until combat anyway."

"From what I've hear, which isn't an enormous amount mind you, I don't think over social exposure would be a problem, it's partially an infiltration unit, however my thoughts are they don't want something as inherently dangerous as an NH-18 to be just walking around the ship. It's a similar thought process that goes to their other Neko Super-weapon, although I think the NH-18's meant to be more sentient." Once in the zero-gravity halls moving the coffin was quite easy, simply being pushed and stabilised by the two men.

Sakue muttered something unintelligible, then said : "I don't like that. I mean : I wouldn't like, as a sentient being, being held in stasis, then woken up when someone needs me. It isn't right. But I guess that orders are orders and that they know what they're doing." She pushed hard on her feet, floated past Arild and Garrett, and opened the armoury's door for them.

"Don't try to think as it does, its mind, its very way of thinking is alien. I don't know if it 'feels' anything, but at the moment I'm sure it is in a pleasant enough situation, being fed all the data it needs etc." They navigated the coffin inside, "Let's leave it there." Arild pointed to an empty space on the wall opposite the door, and they proceeded to turn the coffin over to lie vertical, head in the air, there, "Val, make sure you have the capacity to activate the unit when required."

"Confirmed." Val's voice came from one of the weapon racks.

"Mmmhmm..." Sakue looked clearly unsatisfied by the answer, but she didn't want to get in an argument with Arild about it. She was holding the door open. "To the bridge ? Or do we have some other stuff to take care of before moving ?"

"Valiant should take care of securing the container, so we're good there." Said Karin. "To the bridge, I think... Haven't seen it yet, have you cap'?"

"Yes, I have to pass through it to get to my quarters. This way." Arild began to pull himself the Bridge using the rings, navigating the switch between zero-gravity and gravity well, climbing up into the command Bridge and taking a seat in the Captain's chair.

Following shortly behind, Sakue jumped in a seat in the main bridge. "Wow, neat." When she noticed she sat in front of the weapon system console, she added "So, uhm, where's my seat, Val ?"

"Your positions have yet to be allocated by Taisa Bard." Val said, her voice comming from the floor.

"Hmm. Well, I can do engineering, piloting to a degree and sensors... anything you stick me to, I can probably do pretty well." Said Karin. "I'm not bothered so long as we do something!"

Arild thought quickly, "Alright, for the moment, and these are temporary positions until everyone is assembled, due to two people confined to their quarters with ship-lag, and Yue busy in the kitchen ... Shoi Marr, you take sensor station, Santo Hei Sada Sakue, you take mission operations, and Anderson you take tactical. Everyone happy about that?"

"Yes sir." Sakue stood up. "Mission ops is down there, right ?", she said, pointing at the main bridge.

"Yessir, Taisa Bard sir!" Said Karin smartly, then jogged up the slope from the main bridge to the command section. "This is sensors, right?" She looked over her shoulder at Arild, standing by the console.

"Yes, that's right." Arild said, "Val will take over the piloting duties for now."

Sakue sat on her allocated chair, made herself comfortable. "Ready !"

Garret took his position at the tactical station.

Arild clicked his knuckles, "Alright it seems that everyone that is going to be here soon is here, so we might as well start. Val, on my mark engage the Hyperspatial Fold Drive on half maximum, extending sensors to full, chart a route through formerly Mishu controlled space, keeping slightly to the side of centre for the moment." Arild paused, "Alright, to the beginning of our first mission. Engage."

The Valiant engaged its Hyperspatial Fold Drive, and faded out of existence as it headed towards the south-east.