Infirmary
Oreza nodded in response to Six Four's statement, and laid his giant hands across his barrel chest with another long, relaxed sigh. "I didn't think I would be considering a cane already," he chuckled. "I do hope it will only be temporary." Seconds later, the captain's voice crackled through the tinny intercom speaker set in the nearby wall, indicating the ship would be jumping soon. Oreza lifted his head to listen, then turned his eyes to Six Four and Shrie. "You two should probably get situated," he said, and a paternal smile crossed his face. "Hopefully wherever we're taking our passenger will be a more comfortable place than where we've been lately."
Space - High orbit over Neue Jaspis IIh
The glimmering moon, silhouetted against the massive blue sphere of its parent planet, hung silently in the vast depths of space, far from the system's star, while distant swarms of autonomous drones of all sizes glittered in reflected starlight around the other moons in orbit, moving like schools of fish in a vast ocean. The lone, dullish silver sparkle of the Concordia Veil suddenly flashed to life as its graviton engines engaged, breaking the little ship from its orbit and propelled it away from the gas giant's gravity well.
Pale blue light began to glow around the decrepit freighter, enveloping it in an otherworldly halo, brightening it to make it increasingly noticable against the backdrop of diamondlike stars until it shone brighter than all of them to a nearby viewer. And then, suddenly, with a briliant flash of bluish-white light, it smudged across space in a long streak that vanished in the blink of an eye, and then it was gone.
Cockpit
The bluish haze of the combined field enveloping the ship shimmered outside of the canopy, and the comforting thrum of the engines rumbled far behind the two women in the control couches. The status boards were showing green, for the most part, save for a few negligible faults and alerts that pulsed quietly, reminding them that there would be a lot that needed their attention when they finally docked. For now, however, the trip should be relatively uneventful, provided there were no more surprises.
Sienna pushed the controls off of her lap, retracting them into their locked position as she stretched her legs out in front of her, and her arms over her head with a long sigh and tiny little groan. After running her fingers through her hair and holding it pushed back across her head for a moment, she exhaled and relaxed. "Well, payday at last, I hope," she commented quietly, as much to herself as to Amelia.
"Finally, I am getting paid," the astrogator commented, her voice tired. She went over the ship's systems for the Nth time since they made the jump, pulling at her suit's collar with a finger, despite the creeping exhaustion at the corner of her mind. The engines were still showing a short in one of the conduits, and the CFS registered several faults, disabling the shield system and slowing their FTL speed slightly, but with the power routed optimally, she figured that everything should hold out.
The captain rested her hands on the armrests of her seat, and rolled her head to the side to look at Amelia from beneath her bangs with raised eyebrows. "You know, I ain't made any money since we started this little freak show either," she retorted with a muted smirk.
"Freakshow, huh?" Amelia said from her seat, still not turning to face Sienna. it was a dry and matter-of-fact statement at the captain's comment.
"Freak show," Sienna repeated in confirmation, lazily turning her head back forward as she slumped back further in her seat, folding her hands on her abdomen and kicking one foot up on the console. "You get Crash straightened out?" she asked, tossing a lock of hair out of her eyes.
"Something like that," the astrogator replied, turning the volumetric displays next to her off, and pushing the physical ones aside.
Sienna raised an eyebrow and one corner of her mouth turned upwards as she shook her head in mild disdain. "Guess neither one of us are up to that task anyway," she replied.
Amelia didn't asnwer, instead only finally turning her head to regard the other woman briefly. She relaxed against her seat, slowly exhaling as she still felt her whole body ache from the last job.
The two sat in silence for a minute, watching the shimmering blue curtain ebb and flow around them as the ship surfed along the edge of time and space, the gentle chimes and tones of the ship's monitoring systems occasionally breaking the silence. After a while, Sienna shifted in her seat a bit and rested her temple on her fist. "So what is it you find so fascinating about him, anyway?"
"What?" Amelia asked, shifting in her seat and visibly uncomfortable at the query.
"Oh come on," Sienna said, dropping her hand from her face as she turned it to Amelia with a knowing expression. "You've bent over backwards trying to protect him ever since you found out he existed. You bought upgrades and repairs for him outta your own pocket, and you about had a heart attack when we realized he was ass-up in the computer room." Her eyebrows raised slightly and her brow creased, as if she found her following thought perplexing, or even slightly bothersome. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you had a thing for him."
"He actually paid for those out of his own pocket," the astrogator interjected, her eyes still facing forward at the void as the ship travelled.
"You still didn't answer my question."
"You didn't ask any."
Sienna smirked again. "I asked you what you find so fascinating about him."
"He..." She started to say. "Why is that important?" Amelia asked.
The captain's knowing smirk remained, and she looked back out at the view. "It's not," she replied, almost sounding pleased she had the astrogator so uncomfortable. "Just don't get it is all. He's a pain in my ass."
"I am not surprised," the astrogator said, suddenly finding one of the armrests on her seat fascinating as she gripped at it with a gloved hand.
"Didn't think you would be," she replied, rubbing her palm on her forehead briefly. "I ain't exactly made it a secret."
"Maybe if you treated him better that would fix it," Amelia said.
Sienna looked back over at Amelia. "See, there you go again, defending him," she pressed. "Why does it matter so damn much to you? Y'all have a history I don't know about, or something?"
"Because no one stands up for him," the astrogator answered, turning from her seat. "He has lost everything he knew," she added accusingly.
The captain didn't appear impressed, giving Amelia a dubious raised eyebrow, and the astrogator just turned back to her seat, going over the ship's systems again. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" she asked rhetorically. "That don't make him special. Hell, if anything, it makes him more ordinary. Everybody's lost something. Anyone who didn't never had nothin' in the first place."
"It's funny how a machine seems to be more feeling than you," Amelia commented.
Sienna, obviously convinced Amelia didn't want to talk about it, shrugged and settled back in her seat, leaning her head back against the headrest nonchalantly before closing her eyes and wriggling in. "Don't much see the humor in that," she said with an indifferent shrug. "Forget I asked. Ain't none of my business anyway, I just don't get it."
"No, it isn't," the astrogator stated, her hands working on the volumetric displays of the ship.
"So if I keep him around, are you gonna keep him in line?" Sienna asked, changing her angle, eyes still closed and in her relaxed posture.
"Isn't that the captain's job?" Amelia asked, annoyed and still aggressive.
"Yes," Sienna replied, her voice hardening ever so slightly, and she opened one eye to glance sternly over at Amelia. "It's also the captain's job to pay the astrogator. Or cut her loose, whichever she sees fit, you know."
"As long the captain doesn't blow up the ship the astrogator is in," she replied.
The captain sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes again. "I can only apologize so many times," she said, slightly exasperated. "I ain't gonna beg you to get over that."
The astrogator replied with a single, tired "Whatever."
"'Whatever'?" Sienna echoed, opening her eyes and lifting her head. Her eyebrows raised high, and her lips parted slightly. "'Whatever!?'" she repeated a bit more tersely. She turned slightly in her seat, angrily shoving a pointed finger behind her, towards the aft of the ship, looking back where she was pointing for her next few words before glaring back at Amelia. "I just stretched myself taut like a goddamn bungee cord to save your sorry ass from being minced by a buncha half-crazed killer robots," she snapped. "Now, I ain't expecting you to fall over yourself thanking me, but for frack's sake, a little forgiveness might be in order!"
"I'm tired, leave me alone," Amelia said, brifly casting a glance at the captain before going back to her task.
"Oh for--" Sienna started, before tightly clamping her lips shut, and scoffing in exasperation. Settling back in her seat, she folded her arms across her chest and blew away some of the hair that had stubbornly fallen back over her brow. "Fine, fine. I was done talkin' anyway." She closed her eyes once more, settling her shoulders into her seat with the clear intention of taking a brief nap right there where she was.
The cockpit was silent for a few minutes as the astrogator went over her diagnostics again. Eventually, once the process was done and she had eventually calmed down, she cast a glance at where the captain was. She thought about going over it again just to pass the time, but eventually just turned the displays off. "Sorry, I almost died today," Amelia said, trying to sound sincere and not ironic.
No response came for a few seconds, before Sienna drew a quiet breath through her nose and stirred slightly. "So did I," she replied in a flat, sleepy tone, never opening her eyes. "So did the rest of us. But we didn't."
"It's not something I would like being used to," she added, remembering all the other similar situations.
Another pause held before Sienna replied. "Nobody asked you what you'd like," she said in a light murmur. "You don't get to pick what you have to deal with. You just do."
"Oh, gee, thanks," Amelia said, crossing her arms as she pressed her back harder against her seat.
Sienna shrugged tiredly, her own arms still folded and eyes still closed. "You rather I lie and say I'll never put you in that position again?" she asked.
Amelia didn't answer.
For a few silent moments, it seemed that Sienna had fallen asleep. Finally the captain stirred again, and sighed, but never opened her eyes. "I ain't in a hurry to die either, you know," she muttered. "But I wasn't lucky enough to get dealt a cushy hand, so I'm gonna do what I gotta do. I already done told you I can use you around. But if this kinda life don't sit well with you..." She hesitated, sounding as if she were drifting off again before a quiet snort buzzed in her throat, and she twitched. "You ain't a prisoner here, is all."
"I like seeing new places, it's why I couldn't stand staying grounded in that station," the astrogator confessed. "I like it here, and I like it even more when I'm getting paid," she joked.
A single chuckle rumbled in Sienna's throat, and her lips turned upward slightly. "You and me both," she replied.
"I spoke to Crash, and he says he did that because you forbid him from leaving the computer room," the astrogator said, abruptly changing the subject.
Sienna groaned quietly. "No, I didn't," she said. "He's just being a frackin' baby. I told him to stay out of private areas unless he was invited in, not whatever B.S. he's feeding you."
"Maybe you should tell him that. It's hard to understand things when someone overloads you with electricity," she said.
"I did," Sienna replied, sounding slightly more awake, and more annoyed at the thought. "Twice, in fact. And if he's sore about that jolt, tough shit. Any chance of me apologizing about it went out the airlock when he shredded my bed."
That made Amelia giggle.
The captain looked over at Amelia with a slight frown. "Why is that funny?"
"Oh, nevermind," the astrogator said, waving at Sienna dismissively. "That just sounds like Crash," she added.
Sienna's upper lip curled slightly. "Yeah, heh-heh-heh," she replied, her mock chuckle oozing with thick sarcasm as she laid her head back down on her headrest. "Adorable ol' Crash, breaking into private quarters, stealing and destroying personal effects. I mean, that's classic, right there."
The astrogator didn't answer, but instead kept on the sly expression on her face as she faced forward.
"Look," Sienna continued, scratching the underside of her nose with the back of her hand. "I already told y'all I'd ease up a bit, but that don't mean I'm gonna put up with any more of this crap from him. Whatever crush you got on him is between the two of you, but he listens to you, at least. You want him to stay around, you gotta help me make sure he gets it through his head that playtime is over. No more chances. He follows my rules or he's gone." She shifted in her seat again, grimacing uncomfortably. "And he's replacing my bedding so I don't have to sleep in the goddamn cockpit..."
"I already talked to him about that," Amelia admitted, averting her eyes from the screen and facing the captain. "I thought you had two beds," she added.
"He stripped them both," Sienna replied. "Like a frackin' child throwing a tantrum."
"Hm," was all that the astrogator answered. She still believed both of the parties were at fault there, but she didn't want to go back into the same discussion again over the fact. "What do you want from me? I already said I talked to him," she said to Sienna again.
Sienna shrugged slightly, her eyes having drifted closed again. "That's it," she said. "That, and keep us from getting lost."
"Yes, captain," Amelia said, throwing a mock salute.
No reply came for a few moments, until faint, soft snoring could be heard coming from Sienna's seat, her head lolled over to the side, arms folded, and her leg still propped against the console.
