Upon the hull of the Akahar where the engineers were working to get the hull repaired, they could spot something. Something folded into their local space. It was a Lorath vessel, immediately identifiable as a
Zahl class.
The secondary engineer that was passing materials, wire and piping to Pratima on the other side of the hull was nudging Bes'linn. "Might want to tell Keib we've got inbound."
"Yep." Bes'linn replied as she kept the lines secure and taut for Pratima as she kept working.
"Oh, and apparently they're going to have a small inspection."
"I got the Bridge Bunnies in my ear telling me to get down there and tidy my workspace for such an occasion," Bes'linn shot back. "I don't care if my workspace is a mess to them - it's perfectly fine to me!"
Speaking of which, she looked into the hole and spotted some of the freespacer's handiwork. "Is that art you're doing? Ugh, nevermind. I'm about to detach the line and seal up the hole from my end. Confirm readiness?"
"Readyness confirm." Pratima replied, "You seal your side, I'll seal mine, then we can turn the air back on and I'll walk out through the door."
-
"Keib, yeah they say they're doing an inspection too," the Fyuunen bridge bunny told him, "surprise surprise they want to ensure that the replacements are going to the bottom-of-the-barrel hellhole they expect it to be."
"So, keep things running as normal then," Keib replied. "complete with the Freespacer's doodlings in the hall, the coffee machine that dispenses methamphetamine in engineering, my apple plant experiments that are NOT to be touched in the Rec Room, my entire Office full of Phoenix Man!, the CO's former office which now looks like the set of
Crime Investigation Hourly with Christopher Hargitay," he paused for breath before continuing.
"The armoury half blown to pieces by those bloody pirates, that Demon armour down in the livestock area that's playing Phoenix Man! cartoons on repeat while there's a rotting corpse inside it, and the severed leg of a pirate that's sticking out of the disposal chute?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful!" He stood up off of the couch and clapped his hands. The datapad on his lap fell onto the couch by his side. "That means the Lazarus shipment should be hot on their heels once I get some introductions done." His datapad bleeped, he was being sent the records of the two new crewmembers. "Let's see what we've got..."
-
MEANWHILE, ON THE ZAHL-CLASS CRUISER...
"I know one of you has stepped in it while the other just had the misfortune of drawing the short straw," the Fyuunen matriarch and commander of the ship was addressing the aid package to the Akahar, or at least, their personnel replacement contingent. According to reports from Keib, they were replacing a foreigner who ate one Duq too many and went to la-la land while a pilot attempted to jostle the apples in Keib's garden in the rec room. The first procedure to extract apple seeds from someone had taken place.
"Kam'kebek 'Tilt' Casek Fyunnen, you are a deviant, bordering on the line between heretic and mere miscreant. Your repeated failure to integrate with orderly society has put you here, and this is to be your pennance unless further punishments are to be levied upon thee."
"Sen'ythy 'Seeker' Rezan Fyunnen, you are merely unfortunate." She was striding from side to side, watching them both with her owly gaze, "a promising candidate for salvaging operations, but the Akahar is the only place left for you. Your ability to pilot a Whirlwind will not go astray in salvage operations, and I believe Keib, curse his name, has two in his possession."
She came to a stop, boot clopping against the floor loudly, echoing through the ship's hard surfaced walls and floors. "Before I let the Goddess decide your fates, do you have questions?" Her attention was placed more upon Seeker than Tilt, a distant scorn and disdain on the corners of her lips as there was a smile directed towards the misfortunate, and a smirk towards the heretic.
'Seeker' Sen'ythy bit back a sharp retort, knowing full well that it would do him no good. It wasn't his fault that the stupid animal had gotten under his foot, or that it couldn't stand up to a mere...ten tons. "What is the role of the Akahar, Sir?"
A reasonable question, the matriarch thought. "It serves as a crow to scour the battlefields for the hulks of our ships. It brings them back within safe territory and leaves us the task of reviving any crew members, recovering records and keeping sensitive technology or cargo out of enemy hands. The Akahar is made for longer ranged soujurns. I guess that
beast enjoys the solitude of the void."
"Tilt" Casek had been silent virtually from the first moment that the matriarch had stepped before them, and little had changed since she first began speaking. In fact, even when the offer for questions was made, he stayed silent, and preferred to listen first before he actually spoke himself, "Ma'am, what's the contingent of soldiers aboard standing at for numbers and equipment? Also, when it comes to requisitions, what's the time we can expect? I'm willing to bet the Akahar isn't very high on the priority list from the way it's praised."
Seeker simply sighed under his breath, making no comment. Figured. One mistake and he'd be stuck on salvage ships for the rest of his career before it had even properly begun. He remained silent while listening to the other guy, who's name he thought was....Tilt. Tilt? Huh.
Her nostrils flared at the heretic-branded Fyuunen. Condescension was in her eyes as she grinned. "The Akahar's M.O. is to find what it can and a dapt. It is a salvaging ship, correct? It must be resourceful to survive, as in its voyages, contacts are few and far between." An assistant passed her a datapad, making her attention waver as she looked at what it was. Her brow furrowed and there was a growl. "You're just part of the gift wrapping tonight, and it seems as though your CO wants to inspect you before we start the transfers." She turned to one of the other Fyuunen standing nearby. "Main screen, turn on."
"Yes, ma'am."
A holographic viewing port shimmered into view a couple of steps behind the matriarch, who stepped away and stood between the two contingents, acting like a wedge. The screen flickered to life and the matriarch clicked her tongue in disgust immediately.
Keib was sitting at his desk, showing clear disregard for uniform by wearing a labcoat with the rank and insignia patches applied on haphazardly. Underneath it was a casual shirt of some sort with the logo to a Nepleslian games company on it. Receeding hairline, white hair, widows peak, slate grey eyes and a triangular face with human-shaped ears showed that he was a New Tur'lista - a
thinker, allegedly.
"Keib here," his opening sentence made the Matriarch's teeth grind loud enough for the duo to hear it - he disregarded another protocol. His head was resting on one hand lazily as he looked at the fresh meat for himself. "Lovely to see you again as always, Ro'vii. How's tricks?"
Seeker ended up standing behind and to one side of the Matriarch, looking at the viewscreen to get a glimpse of his new commander. What he saw made his heart sink from where it had been, somewhere in his crotch, to the vicinity of his left boot. This was, truly, the end of his career. His new commander looked like a cross between a game nerd and....someone who needed, desperately, to get laid. Resisting the urge to shake his head, he stood at attention, trying not to look particularly miserable.
The man on the screen didn't look like the commanding officer of an LSDF naval vessel. He looked like a member of Aethersperm. The sick one, Tilt thought. Still, he came to attention. Decry him as she may have, this wasn't the engineer's first spin through the vacuum with the LSDF, and he knew how to handle himself. It would be apparent despite the Soldier's insignia on his uniform that he more than knew what he was doing. He stayed silent and waited for the Matriarch to speak -- if only so she could appease her sense of self by further insulting Tilt.
"Were it not for how much further you could degrade yourself and still call yourself LSDF personnel, I am just
fine."
"Rock bottom is a solid foundation,
marm," Keib replied lazily before straightening himself and clasping his hands on the desk in front of him. Now that he'd leaned back upright, there was a Phoenix Man! poster on the wall behind his chair. "If we're done with pleasantries, I'd like to confirm the shipment being bought onto my ship, passengers included." He leaned forward into the camera, and it became apparent that he hadn't been sleeping well. A purple shadow was beneath his eyes. "C'mon, say hi. You have my permission."
Seeker watched the intercourse between the two officers, though it wasn't immediately apparent whether or not the commander of the ship they'd been assigned to warranted the term 'officer.' Despite his desire to keep his head down and say nothing, he couldn't help but smile slightly as the weary looking man told them to say hello.
"Hi. You have my permission."
"Adorable." Keib replied. "Disciplined sort, stands upright well and..." he typed into some keys, "he's a mech pilot, and a good one, save for that indiscretion with the-"
"Silence!" The Matriarch replied before giving Tilt a jab in the ribs with her elbow.
The Matriarch's jab did visually very little to stir a reaction from the heretic-branded Fyunnen, or even cause his expression to change much from the stand-offishly stoic appearance, "Sir. I'd say it's a pleasure to be coming aboard, but from what I was told your vessel is in need of some heavy engineering work. That's why I'm here."
"A can-do attitude I see? Maybe?" He looked down at the keyboard once more and looked back up, eyes looking elsewhere on screen rather than the camera or the video he was seeing. "You are a definite maybe."
The matriarch sighed. "In your words, then, are they satisfactory?" Keib nodded in reply. "Good."
"Call it even for the
Ink'arr Lys, it was an interesting salvage." Keib recalled. She sighed in concession. This was why they kept him around. Somehow he was able to track it down several months, and get most of it back intact after an ambush destroyed the ship last year. "Anything further?" A pair of fuzzy hands came into view, holding a saucer and a mug of tea. Keib smiled, looked down and accepted the beverage with a mouthed thanks. The wet-nosed face of a bleary-eyed, orange-haired Helashio poked onto the screen for a moment before it moved away.
The Matriarch seemed to be waiting for her charges to respond.
Tilt regarded the Matriarch with seemingly perpetually squinted neon-green eyes, "No, ma'am." He tersely shook his head, "I'm ready to head aboard."
Goddess, he hated the woman already, and he'd barely known her.
It was hard, very hard, for Seeker not to smirk. So his shipmate was a goody-two-shoes. Perfect. That was all he needed. The death of his career, and a crew of assholes. Maybe there were a few women on board....that really did make him smirk a little bit. Women on a small ship, without any other real beacons of masculinity, if the commander was anything to go by. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all..... "Hm? Oh, yes. Ready to come aboard."
"Great, I'm sure you'll both fit right in."
They'll fit somewhere... the Matriarch pondered quietly.
"Ro'vii can handle the rest from here."
"That's Commandant Ro'vii Issik 'Crusher' Fyuunen, Howler. Do not forget your place." Keib winked back in reply before the video feed went to static and fizzled out of view. "And do not forget yours either!"
-
The door to Keib's office slid open, and Rae'lynn was standing there, looking into his chaotic room. Aiesu was still sitting down on the couch, apparently absorbed in thought. Keib was sitting at his desk with a cup of tea and his Helashio assistant was just nearby, hands behind back and nodding in acknowledgement towards the Fyuunen.
On the walls were posters, and opposite the couch was a television screen with a Nepleslian games console of some sort, controllers sitting beside the item. Upon the dresser were Nepleslian figures.
"Ah, Rae'lynn. What can I do for you?" He asked, looking up from his desk. He heard a thump earlier, but he didn't wish to bring it up immediately.
-
"Alright fine, it'd better be a fight with a clear winner this time." Yar'mak crossed his arms at the pirate. Gough breathed a sigh of relief as he nodded towards Veronica, as if to assure her that everything was going to work out. "Otherwise I join in too!"
Gough buried his face in his palm, grumbling audibly into his hand.
