- RP Date
- YE 47.1
- RP Location
- YSS Resurgence
YE 47.1
The sound of a shuttle's interior was a distinctive mix of blowing air, electrical buzzing, humming power systems, and rumbling engines. The Ke-T7 series had a cockpit section up front and a much larger zone in the rear two-thirds full of seats and tie-downs. The cockpit had four seats, enough for a pilot, copilot, and two mission specialists, and each was surrounded by control panels and a large quanity of emergency supplies. This particular shuttle, which looked heavily used, given the scuffs and scorch marks on the exterior, was Taji's ride today.
"Hachirobei Sakuko. Do you want to sit up front with me?" the shuttle's operator asked Taji, offering the new starship operator a chance to be in the cockpit. From her orange paneled universe, Taji could see that Sakuko wasn't a pilot by trade, but rather one of the Star Army's supply personnel who were trained in basic shuttle piloting as a means to move supplies. Sakuko had a muscular build, bright red eyes, light asian skin, and a black bob cut.
Taji's gaze lingered on the scuff marks of the shuttle. Two fingertips brushed by a scuffmark--new, unproven machines unsettled her far more than an old, proven machine--and she looked up, a ready grin on her face. "I'll take you up on that offer, Sakuko." Then a quick laugh. "Tokunaga Taji. Fresh out of the academy. I've been looking forward to my first shuttlecraft flight that isn't logged for a grade."
As she spoke, Taji slipped into the cockpit's copilot seat. Her grin widened slightly as she looked over the controls, but slipped back to that ready grin. "Ready when you are."
On of the local supply personnel loaded Taji's Mindy armor into the back of the shuttle, safely tucked in a box on a pallet. As soon as all the cargo was aboard, Sakuko closed the shuttle's door. "I'll bet you're happy to be off that creepy station," Sakuko speculated. "Concordia station is still full of mysteries and skeletons and run by an alien intelligence whose motives are poorly understood at best. When the Resurgence discovered it, it was keeping millions of people captive and it possessed one of our away team members," she explained, as she returned to the cockpit and closed its door, which actually cut down the noise a little. "NG-S1-575-3 requesting takeoff clearance," she said out loud, keying the microphone for a moment.
"Copy NG-S1-575-3, proceed," a voice replied. And they were off!
"You have your wings, right?" Sakuko asked Taji. "Do you want to take a turn flying the shuttle? Just be careful. This is my workhorse and we've been through a lot."
"Happy to be off the creepy station and finishing the transfer. Being stuck waiting is the worst." Taji's ready grin slipped into a soft huff, but her grin at the clearing for take-off. Finally. Felt like four years of waiting, but her shoes weren't on the YSS Resurgence yet.
"Yup, got my wings. They train us well at Ketsurui Academy." Taji leaned forward. Her fingers wiggled as she looked over the keys, but then she made direct eye contact with Sakuko and nodded. No grin on her face now; serious concentration. "Understood. This is your shuttle. I'll be careful, like it's my own ship."
In front of Taji were the main controls of the shuttle, consisting of a central control panel made of smooth, glossy black glass with a glowing teal interface on it, and two control joysticks for manual maneuvering, plus foot pedals for strafing. A HUD display showed the Resurgence's location nearby, surrounded by a circle and the ship's name. Its colors were barely visible from this distance: A dark blue with a white centerline "racing stripe" and red accents, resembling the colors of the flag of the Yamatai Star Empire.
"Okay, take us to Resurgence," Sakuko said, making a hand gesture to the controls.
Taji glanced at the instruments--heading, velocity, and such--as she slowly exhaled. Her hands took the joysticks. Any previous banter or joy slipped off her face into total concentration.
"One of my friends at the Academy was a real pilot," Taji mumbled to herself. The shuttle accelerated, but stayed within standard parameters for docking. "Never could replicate what she did, but, then, that's a real pilot." A slight laugh, though her blue-grey eyes quickly scanned the instruments. Her hands remained steady; only the occassional nudge of a course-correction.
"Resurgence, Sakuko's Spoils. Requesting to land," Sakuko called the ship.
"Permission granted. Welcome back, Sakuko," a female voice replied. "Opening shuttle bay door. Land when ready."
When the shuttle began to ease into the Resurgence, Taji decelerated the craft. Stayed focused until the shuttle slid to a complete halt. Only when everything was settled did she lean back in the seat. Then a deep inhale, and she glanced at Sakuko. "Thanks for trusting me with your workhorse."
"Welcome aboard the Resurgence," Sakuko told Taji, giving her a nod. "Thank you as well," she said, taking off her seat straps and crawling out of her seat and back into the back of the shuttle. She opened the shuttle's rear door to reveal the cavernous shuttle bay where her shuttle's sister, the Barrels of Fun, rested nearby. The shuttle bay had glossy black decks and a lingering smell of smoke in it from some previous fire. There were actual gunfire marks on some of the walls.
Taji took off the straps and followed. She paused at the threshhold--glances to the gunfire marks, but nothing she observed broke her ready grin--and then inhaled another deep breath. The slight smell of smoke. And she'd already had chapped lips from the dry recycled air. But it beat being on a planet. Taji couldn't explain why, but feelings were mysterious. She hopped out, then glanced behind her at the stowed cargo. Student-Taji was used to dragging her backpack everywhere, it felt wrong to leave her assigned boxes behind. But this wasn't the Academy, so she refocused on Sakuko and the woman with the massive pink hair.
Standing in the shuttle bay was woman with gorgeous pink hair in a big ponytail, who was wearing a medical uniform and a Chui rank pin. She had vibrant green eyes and a freckled face. "Welcome aboard," the doctor greeted Taji. "I'm Poppy Pink, CMO. I live in officer-land now so I'll be showing you to your cabin since we'll be neighbors. You'll be working with my best friend, Gabriela Lively, who is the navigator. There's 5 main decks on the Fuji-class gunship and this is the bottom one. There is a central passageway we call Broadway that divides the armor bay and armory from the shuttle bay, and to the fore is the wardroom, where we do most mission briefings, and to the after there is a cargo lift and cargo bays."
Sakuko go to work moving Taji's MINDY armor to the armor bay with a small forklift, giving a way goodbye.
"Nice to meet you, Poppy Pink." A flash of a wider grin. Then, Taji glanced behind her and waved bye to Sakuko. When she turned back to Poppy Pink, Taji squinted. Tilted her head slightly to the left. "Wait. Poppy. Dr Poppy?" Taji's head straighted back up, and she ficked a hand through her messy bob. "I had an academy friend--born planetside--obsessed with Dr Poppy the soda."
"The same," Doctor Poppy grinned. "Do you need any help with your duffel bags?" Poppy offered. Officer cabins are on the next deck up, deck four, starboard side, next to main engineering."
"Nah, I got 'em. Weight training is picking up weights and putting them down, so I've prepared well." For emphasis, Taji adjusted the slung duffel bags over her shoulder, and motioned with her head for Poppy to lead the way.
Poppy led Taji to a lift near the wardroom, which had a thick aroma of french fries and smoky burger grease emanating from it when they got on. On the next level, there seemed to be mostly crew areas on both sides of a central engineering zone. "So, what kind of room-mate are you looking for?" Poppy asked, as they reached the officer cabins.
"Hm, that's a good question." Taji blinked. The student dorms had been assigned, and, while Taji had the opportunity to change roommates and such, maybe she'd just gotten good luck with roommates. So what did she like in a roommate? She shifted the duffles to her other shoulder and then replied. "As long as they're good at boundaries and communicating expectations, I can get along with anyone. People who hold all their feelings inside or don't communicate boundaries don't tend to get along with me."
Poppy immediately crossed half the officers off her mental list. For example Kalena was always naked, most of the other officers already had a roommate. "You know, I'll just give you your own cabin," she laughed, assigning Taji to Officer Cabin 5.
"Hey, if that's easier, then that's easier. You won't catch me complaining about having my own cabin." Taji grinned and couldn't help but echo Poppy's laugh.
Poppy showed taji into her new room. It had a bit of a "hotel" smell to it, with fresh linens and also a sense that no one had been in here in a while. It looked a little impersonal with nothing in it yet but the standard-issue desk and chair, a wall locker, and the like. "If you want to set your things down, I can take you to meet captain Aoba on the bridge."
Taji glanced between the duffles and the room. "Nah, I'll carry them all the way to the bridge." But she couldn't hold the serious voice, and started chuckling halfway through the sentence. She dropped the duffles next to the bed. Walking back to Poppy, she popped her knuckles and had a slight sparkle to her blue-grey eyes. "Ah, I've been looking forward to my first look at the bridge. It's one thing to be on a bridge in the Academy. Another to... well, I think you understand."
They went up a level to Deck 3. "Here's your new home," Poppy grinned, as the door to the ship's bridge slid open with a hiss. The Resurgence had three levels, with the captain sitting on the tallest one in the center. Captain Aoba stood up to welcome Taji. He was a youngish looking man who immediately came off as stern, wise, and thoughtful just from the way he moved. "It's a pleasure to have you joining us," he told Taji. "We could use another bridge officer. One thing you should know is that I want this ship to be the best in the whole Star Army. We get handed the toughest jobs because we are the best, and we will have plenty of chances to prove it. When this is all over I want you to be able to look back on this part of your career as the best time of your life because, while it may be hard, you will be making a real difference in the universe. If you're not ready, you will be soon," he said. "Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, Captain." Taji grinned. "I strive to be the best version of myself. Sounds like our goals are the same. I hope to learn from you."
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes and @axiom
The sound of a shuttle's interior was a distinctive mix of blowing air, electrical buzzing, humming power systems, and rumbling engines. The Ke-T7 series had a cockpit section up front and a much larger zone in the rear two-thirds full of seats and tie-downs. The cockpit had four seats, enough for a pilot, copilot, and two mission specialists, and each was surrounded by control panels and a large quanity of emergency supplies. This particular shuttle, which looked heavily used, given the scuffs and scorch marks on the exterior, was Taji's ride today.
"Hachirobei Sakuko. Do you want to sit up front with me?" the shuttle's operator asked Taji, offering the new starship operator a chance to be in the cockpit. From her orange paneled universe, Taji could see that Sakuko wasn't a pilot by trade, but rather one of the Star Army's supply personnel who were trained in basic shuttle piloting as a means to move supplies. Sakuko had a muscular build, bright red eyes, light asian skin, and a black bob cut.
Taji's gaze lingered on the scuff marks of the shuttle. Two fingertips brushed by a scuffmark--new, unproven machines unsettled her far more than an old, proven machine--and she looked up, a ready grin on her face. "I'll take you up on that offer, Sakuko." Then a quick laugh. "Tokunaga Taji. Fresh out of the academy. I've been looking forward to my first shuttlecraft flight that isn't logged for a grade."
As she spoke, Taji slipped into the cockpit's copilot seat. Her grin widened slightly as she looked over the controls, but slipped back to that ready grin. "Ready when you are."
On of the local supply personnel loaded Taji's Mindy armor into the back of the shuttle, safely tucked in a box on a pallet. As soon as all the cargo was aboard, Sakuko closed the shuttle's door. "I'll bet you're happy to be off that creepy station," Sakuko speculated. "Concordia station is still full of mysteries and skeletons and run by an alien intelligence whose motives are poorly understood at best. When the Resurgence discovered it, it was keeping millions of people captive and it possessed one of our away team members," she explained, as she returned to the cockpit and closed its door, which actually cut down the noise a little. "NG-S1-575-3 requesting takeoff clearance," she said out loud, keying the microphone for a moment.
"Copy NG-S1-575-3, proceed," a voice replied. And they were off!
"You have your wings, right?" Sakuko asked Taji. "Do you want to take a turn flying the shuttle? Just be careful. This is my workhorse and we've been through a lot."
"Happy to be off the creepy station and finishing the transfer. Being stuck waiting is the worst." Taji's ready grin slipped into a soft huff, but her grin at the clearing for take-off. Finally. Felt like four years of waiting, but her shoes weren't on the YSS Resurgence yet.
"Yup, got my wings. They train us well at Ketsurui Academy." Taji leaned forward. Her fingers wiggled as she looked over the keys, but then she made direct eye contact with Sakuko and nodded. No grin on her face now; serious concentration. "Understood. This is your shuttle. I'll be careful, like it's my own ship."
In front of Taji were the main controls of the shuttle, consisting of a central control panel made of smooth, glossy black glass with a glowing teal interface on it, and two control joysticks for manual maneuvering, plus foot pedals for strafing. A HUD display showed the Resurgence's location nearby, surrounded by a circle and the ship's name. Its colors were barely visible from this distance: A dark blue with a white centerline "racing stripe" and red accents, resembling the colors of the flag of the Yamatai Star Empire.
"Okay, take us to Resurgence," Sakuko said, making a hand gesture to the controls.
Taji glanced at the instruments--heading, velocity, and such--as she slowly exhaled. Her hands took the joysticks. Any previous banter or joy slipped off her face into total concentration.
"One of my friends at the Academy was a real pilot," Taji mumbled to herself. The shuttle accelerated, but stayed within standard parameters for docking. "Never could replicate what she did, but, then, that's a real pilot." A slight laugh, though her blue-grey eyes quickly scanned the instruments. Her hands remained steady; only the occassional nudge of a course-correction.
"Resurgence, Sakuko's Spoils. Requesting to land," Sakuko called the ship.
"Permission granted. Welcome back, Sakuko," a female voice replied. "Opening shuttle bay door. Land when ready."
When the shuttle began to ease into the Resurgence, Taji decelerated the craft. Stayed focused until the shuttle slid to a complete halt. Only when everything was settled did she lean back in the seat. Then a deep inhale, and she glanced at Sakuko. "Thanks for trusting me with your workhorse."
"Welcome aboard the Resurgence," Sakuko told Taji, giving her a nod. "Thank you as well," she said, taking off her seat straps and crawling out of her seat and back into the back of the shuttle. She opened the shuttle's rear door to reveal the cavernous shuttle bay where her shuttle's sister, the Barrels of Fun, rested nearby. The shuttle bay had glossy black decks and a lingering smell of smoke in it from some previous fire. There were actual gunfire marks on some of the walls.
Taji took off the straps and followed. She paused at the threshhold--glances to the gunfire marks, but nothing she observed broke her ready grin--and then inhaled another deep breath. The slight smell of smoke. And she'd already had chapped lips from the dry recycled air. But it beat being on a planet. Taji couldn't explain why, but feelings were mysterious. She hopped out, then glanced behind her at the stowed cargo. Student-Taji was used to dragging her backpack everywhere, it felt wrong to leave her assigned boxes behind. But this wasn't the Academy, so she refocused on Sakuko and the woman with the massive pink hair.
Standing in the shuttle bay was woman with gorgeous pink hair in a big ponytail, who was wearing a medical uniform and a Chui rank pin. She had vibrant green eyes and a freckled face. "Welcome aboard," the doctor greeted Taji. "I'm Poppy Pink, CMO. I live in officer-land now so I'll be showing you to your cabin since we'll be neighbors. You'll be working with my best friend, Gabriela Lively, who is the navigator. There's 5 main decks on the Fuji-class gunship and this is the bottom one. There is a central passageway we call Broadway that divides the armor bay and armory from the shuttle bay, and to the fore is the wardroom, where we do most mission briefings, and to the after there is a cargo lift and cargo bays."
Sakuko go to work moving Taji's MINDY armor to the armor bay with a small forklift, giving a way goodbye.
"Nice to meet you, Poppy Pink." A flash of a wider grin. Then, Taji glanced behind her and waved bye to Sakuko. When she turned back to Poppy Pink, Taji squinted. Tilted her head slightly to the left. "Wait. Poppy. Dr Poppy?" Taji's head straighted back up, and she ficked a hand through her messy bob. "I had an academy friend--born planetside--obsessed with Dr Poppy the soda."
"The same," Doctor Poppy grinned. "Do you need any help with your duffel bags?" Poppy offered. Officer cabins are on the next deck up, deck four, starboard side, next to main engineering."
"Nah, I got 'em. Weight training is picking up weights and putting them down, so I've prepared well." For emphasis, Taji adjusted the slung duffel bags over her shoulder, and motioned with her head for Poppy to lead the way.
Poppy led Taji to a lift near the wardroom, which had a thick aroma of french fries and smoky burger grease emanating from it when they got on. On the next level, there seemed to be mostly crew areas on both sides of a central engineering zone. "So, what kind of room-mate are you looking for?" Poppy asked, as they reached the officer cabins.
"Hm, that's a good question." Taji blinked. The student dorms had been assigned, and, while Taji had the opportunity to change roommates and such, maybe she'd just gotten good luck with roommates. So what did she like in a roommate? She shifted the duffles to her other shoulder and then replied. "As long as they're good at boundaries and communicating expectations, I can get along with anyone. People who hold all their feelings inside or don't communicate boundaries don't tend to get along with me."
Poppy immediately crossed half the officers off her mental list. For example Kalena was always naked, most of the other officers already had a roommate. "You know, I'll just give you your own cabin," she laughed, assigning Taji to Officer Cabin 5.
"Hey, if that's easier, then that's easier. You won't catch me complaining about having my own cabin." Taji grinned and couldn't help but echo Poppy's laugh.
Poppy showed taji into her new room. It had a bit of a "hotel" smell to it, with fresh linens and also a sense that no one had been in here in a while. It looked a little impersonal with nothing in it yet but the standard-issue desk and chair, a wall locker, and the like. "If you want to set your things down, I can take you to meet captain Aoba on the bridge."
Taji glanced between the duffles and the room. "Nah, I'll carry them all the way to the bridge." But she couldn't hold the serious voice, and started chuckling halfway through the sentence. She dropped the duffles next to the bed. Walking back to Poppy, she popped her knuckles and had a slight sparkle to her blue-grey eyes. "Ah, I've been looking forward to my first look at the bridge. It's one thing to be on a bridge in the Academy. Another to... well, I think you understand."
They went up a level to Deck 3. "Here's your new home," Poppy grinned, as the door to the ship's bridge slid open with a hiss. The Resurgence had three levels, with the captain sitting on the tallest one in the center. Captain Aoba stood up to welcome Taji. He was a youngish looking man who immediately came off as stern, wise, and thoughtful just from the way he moved. "It's a pleasure to have you joining us," he told Taji. "We could use another bridge officer. One thing you should know is that I want this ship to be the best in the whole Star Army. We get handed the toughest jobs because we are the best, and we will have plenty of chances to prove it. When this is all over I want you to be able to look back on this part of your career as the best time of your life because, while it may be hard, you will be making a real difference in the universe. If you're not ready, you will be soon," he said. "Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, Captain." Taji grinned. "I strive to be the best version of myself. Sounds like our goals are the same. I hope to learn from you."
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes and @axiom