RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 6] A Closer Inspection

Junko leaned against the bulkhead just inside the entrance to engineering and sighed. She closed her eyes for a blissful moment, banishing all thoughts, feelings, every semblance of consciousness. The simulation had been far too stressful for her liking and had thrown off her reactions during the debriefing. Sighing again, she opened her eyes and started taking off the AMES. Her engineering jumpsuit was thankfully still laying on the deck where she had left it, and she slipped into it right away. After scrubbing down the AMES and stowing it, the repair kit pack, and the CASTER dispenser in the damage control locker, she walked over to her station.

The simulated damage reports had all disappeared, and the only red left on her display was from the lost telemetry link to the Power Systems room. She turned and walked towards the forward bulkhead and the ladder affixed to it. Climbing, she passed up through the deck four catwalks and continued upwards, toward the hatch in the overhead, eight meters off the ground. Hitting the activation key, she pulled herself up through the hatch and into the Power Systems room. The primary capacitor bank was situated along the port side of the room; she quickly found the number six capacitor among them. She leaned down to look at the independent coolant system; its displays showed full functionality. A little further investigation showed that surely enough, someone had carelessly let the telemetry feed rest against the coolant piping. The pipe was insulated, but some waste heat had gotten out anyways and melted both the feed’s insulation and part of the fiber-optic cable itself. With a little shake of her head, she set about pulling the ruined length of cable and replacing it with a length stored in a locker against the bulkhead.

Finished, she stood up and looked about the compartment, her eyes settling on one of the few relatively empty spaces to be found anywhere among the engineering compartments. And then she remembered: We still haven’t checked with the Taisa about the QNCs! She raced back over to the hatch and down the ladder. As she bobbed and weaved about the various obstacles in the Mainspace, she consulted with the computer and found out the Taisa was still in the wardroom and continued on in that direction with all speed. Reaching the hatch, she slowed up and entered, passing Valencia. She strode quickly over to the Taisa, a little out of breath. “Ma’am, I apologize for not having this sorted out before the simulation, but there are some concerns about installing the QNCs.” She paused to fish out her communicator and find the offending passages about the QNCs. “If you still wish them to be installed, we will, of course, abide by your order, ma’am; but from engineering’s perspective, these devices seem to present a risk.”

"You are right," Hanako nodded, peering at the QNC readouts. "I had not realized they were full of spyware. At the next opportunity, I think I will use them as practice targets for our weapons team. The last thing I want is for the Lorath to know our whereabouts. Thank you for finding this out."

With that, Hanako went and got herself a meal.

Hamada ate.

It was good. Of course, this late in the day with nothing to eat and only a little bit of tea in her stomach, anything would probably have been good. The Taii stayed in the wardroom while she ate and arranged for Charisma to inform her of any abnormalities in the ship, in general, while she was away from the com. She had been on the bridge for far too long today, and there were other things that she had neglected to do that needed to be done at least by evening. For instance, she still hadn't fully claimed her assigned room. Shizu's gear was still bagged up and sitting out in a corner of her compartment, completely untouched. She would have to open it soon and sort away its contents because the same uniform, every day, did not seem very appealing. There were other things to do as well. Shower, laundry. Food.

Well, at least there was food.

She ate quietly, and was a little slow about it, so when the Taisa rolled in, Shizu was only half finished. Standing, she waited for Hanako to take a seat.

"Good evening, Taisa-san," she said, making sure to smile at least a little bit, "Forgive me for missing lunch. Can we make it up now, do you think?"

Sune selected one of his warm up katas to start his workout. It was familiar enough that it freed his mind to think back over the day. After reviewing the debriefing he was still just as confused so he switched to a more rigorous kata, losing himself in the complex patterns of movement. The level of required concentration was one that he found challenging both on a mental and physical level. By the time he completed the third group, he felt focused and his body glistened with perspiration. He performed a last set of stretches to allow his body to cool down.

After showering and putting his uniform back on, he mulled over what to do next. We never did get to complete all the backups and physicals. So I should probably return to the medbay in case anyone shows up. Along the way he asked Charisma where Konoka was to make sure she was okay. After being informed that she had fallen several times in the wardroom he thought, Well, sounds like she is back to her normal status. I do not think I have seen her go as long as she did while we worked in the medbay without tripping.

When he entered the medbay he made his way over to the desk. No one currently needing any attention, guess I will use this time to work up a proposal for locating an injured unconscious crewmember procedure.

“Ma’am,” replied Junko as the Taisa left. She watched her superior officer for a moment and considered getting something to eat as well. It had been some time since her last meal, but she was still too strung-out to be hungry. Turning, she exited the wardroom and entered the passageway. She began to move back toward engineering when she remembered another forgotten item. Pushing off, she quickly made for the sickbay; the abrupt start of the simulation had interrupted her effort to get a mental back-up before, but now she had plenty of time. The hatch slid open and Junko stepped in, looking around. Catching sight of Jalen behind a desk, she strode over briskly. “Jalen-hei,” she said quietly, more like her typical self, with a friendly nod. “I’m afraid the simulation interrupted my last try at getting a back-up. I am free at the moment, so if you can accommodate me, do you believe it possible to complete one now?”

Sune turned off the display and stood up. "Takeda-Hei, as you can see there is not much going on at the moment. I can take care of your backup, as well as your base line physical right now. Give me a moment to get my things."

Sune walked across the room getting a PMS out of the charger, as well as a tray with basic medical instrutments. He carried them into the mental backup area. After putting the instruments down, he held the privacy screen. "Takeda-Hei, if you would come in here and have a seat on the backup bed, and remove your uniform top only, I will start the physical, and while the backup is accomplished the PMS will conduct the automatic portion of it."

Once Junko entered the room, he let the screen fall back into place, and walked over to the control panel for the mental backup and entered the commands to initialize the system. He then waited for Junko to prepare herself for the examination.

Hamada said:

"Good evening, Taisa-san," she said, making sure to smile at least a little bit, "Forgive me for missing lunch. Can we make it up now, do you think?"

Click to expand...

"That would be splendid," Hanako said, fully stopping in mid-meal to speak. One could tell she had lived in the Empress' Palace from the way that she ate, meticulously conforming to precise hand movements and manners, never speaking and eating at the same time or leaning over her plate.

Hamada took her seat and continued eating.

While she was not as refined or precise as the Taisa, when she noticed the level of manners and courtesy that Hanako was displaying Shizu drew on what little experiance she had in formal dining and mirrored as best she could. However, having never been called to dine in anything more luxurious than the occassional glorified mess with her contemporaries, Shizu eventually gave this up and stuck to what little she did know, which was tea. While she couldn't eat macaroni like a royal, she could at least hold her own with tea.

"Do the days usually feel this long?" she ventured, more out of a feeling of obligation to the purposes of light conversation than any true interest in the subject. It had been the Taisa, originally, who had first wished to dine, and Shizu - curious - was looking forward to hearing what it was that she had to say. First, though, the light conversation had to be dispensed with. It was a necessary, if pesky, function of courtesy.

Junko nodded and sat down on the bed. As she unsealed the top of her jumpsuit and pulled it down around her waist, she felt a sudden flush of embarrassment. But where a little while ago she had been disconcerted and susceptible to the whims of emotion, she now drove down the feeling with an iron fist, putting on the mask of a consummate professional. She sat still while Jalen began his ministrations, remaining quiet. Finally, though, she felt the dictates of polite company required some interaction. “How was Medical during the simulation?” she asked, her face still a little red from embarrassment, but without anything seeping through her tone of voice.

Sune came to stand behind Junko, placing his tray on the bed next to her. He picked up the stethoscope and warmed in his palm. He pondered how to diplomatically refer to the results. He decided to provide only the succinct details that were relevant. "Medical was not exactly taxed during the simulation. Only one casualty, the biggest issue discovered was an inadvertent omission in the call for medical assistance." He placed the stethoscope on and listened to Junko's heart and lungs for a moment.

Sune then removed the stethoscope and using a small rubber hammer proceeded to check Junko's neural reflexes, followed by checking her ocular responses with a small flashlight. "Everything looks good." He picked up the hypospray, "This contains scanner nanomachines that will provide us with a base line bio reading for future use. You may experience a bit of a tingling sensation." He pressed the hypospray against her upper arm and activated it. There was a brief hiss from the injector. Sune then crossed over to where he left the PMS-1 scanner and picked it up. "You may put your uniform top back in place now." He said while looking at the scanner with his back to Junko to provide her a sense of privacy. "How was the simulation down in engineering?"

Nika sat quietly as she ate her meal, her ears picking up various conversations from other crew members.

"Seemed like something is going to happen when we reach our destination." She mentally noted while chewing on her fillets.

Finally finished with her meal, she looked about the wardroom, seeing that the Shizu and Hanako were settled down for dinner as well and from the looks of it, the Taisa had just begun on her meal while the Taii was almost done with it.

"Taisa... Taii..." Nika approached them with her empty plate, "Do you need any more refreshments or food as I will be passing by the buffet once I dispose of my plate?"

Ramiro quietly ate his meal, thinking to himself that something was missing. Once he finished he got up, put his dirty plate in the correct place, and then left the wardroom. Arriving on the bridge a few moments later he sat down at his terminal, took a deep sigh, then looked up the ships current location and estimated remaining till arrival.

“Ah. Well…” began Junko with a start. She paused in the middle of pulling up her jumpsuit, a little annoyed. Certainly, she was grateful that Jalen was giving her some privacy, but she was perturbed that she hadn’t realized the obvious result of asking about Medical’s performance: reciprocity. “Um, you may have heard, during the debriefing that, well, we were a point of… or rather, we simply failed. It was not a successful simulation for engineering,” she ended, unsure of how to voice her concerns. She knew that complaining to the officers during the debriefing was a bad idea, but she had grievances and was sorely tempted just to start in on them. But that would make her look like a whiner and problem-maker, and that was the last thing she wanted. “I guess we had a breakdown in communication. The XO implied their might be some… personnel readjustments.” Realizing she was sounding rather grim, she looked up with a forced smile. “I just hope the Taisa doesn’t dismiss me from the Eucharis.” She sighed, with a little grin, and looked around the sickbay a bit. “Is there anything else we need to do to finish this up?”

"Takeda-Hei, I am sure that you have nothing to worry about. The purpose for a simulation is two fold; first to give the crew experience in a given situation in this case combat, and second to find problems in a simulated situation. So that we can correct them before we go into a real instance of that situation. Neither the Taisa nor the Taii said anything directed at you that could be construed as a reprimand."

He moved towards the head of the backup unit. "The only thing left to accomplish is your backup. If you lay down I will start the mental backup process. There may be some discomfort, different people experience varying degrees of discomfort." While waiting for Junko to lay down so he could start the process, he observed the data from the PMS on his Uno Sunglasses. Those readings seem to be in error. He thought as he initiated a self check of the PMS. Same results.

“Ah, well you are right, of course. I’m just worrying too much,” Junko said with a smile as she lay down on the backup unit. She considered, of course, that the Taii’s comment was telepathic and directed at her; as such, no one else could have heard the message, or its implied tone of warning. But she was a little surprised he hadn’t noticed the Taisa’s rather plainly disapproving expression. All the same, it wasn’t really the place to continue with that line of thought, or discussion. “A little discomfort is no worry. Please carry on with the procedure.”

Sune adjusted the Synaptic Interface Unit over Junko and aligned the unit. He then initiated the backup process. He looked at the readings from Junko and realized that they were similar to some of ones he did earlier. Ah, that is it. Takeda-Hei is not a Yamataian female, she is a human form Valkyrja, interesting. having sorted out the puzzle, he made an entry in his records for future reference. When the unit completed the process Sune entered his command code to store the backup in the Soul savior pod. He switched the unit off and returned to Junko's side. "There you go, all required medical tasks have been completed. So you are free to persue whatever actions you like."

ON: YSS Eucharis, Wardroom

"No thank you," Hanako told Nika, before turning back to Hamada with a look of annoyance. Red-pin soldiers were by regulation prohibited from interrupting the conversations of white-pin officers. "If the day seems long then perhaps we are not doing enough...but really I think it is because we spent a lot of time in transit and we are working later than usual," said the Taisa. "Do not worry, we will be at HX-12 in only a few minutes."

Shizu nodded, amiably, setting her tea down onto the table carefully and folding her hands. "HX-12," she echoed, watching the Taisa, "I am surprised that these planets were not explored before, as close as they are to our borders."

"Well, I visited the system on the YSS Elfin Princess, but only to do general system scans. It was not very in-depth," Hanako explained.

"Ah. So this time we're going more in depth." Shizu offered another smile. Small talk was definately not her forte, but at least it could be said that she made an effort. It might have been a weak effort, since she tended to be a rather straightforward person when she did choose to converse, but it was effort. "Do you intend to make landfall on one of these? They could be useful outposts."

"Well, the intent of this mission was to visit HX-2 to select a colony site, but now we are on our way to HX-12 to investigate the distress call, so things have changed a bit. My main worry is an ambush," the gold-eyed Taisa explained.

The Taii stopped, right in the middle of lifting her cup to drink from it. After a moment of suspended thought, she looked up at the Taisa. "We couldn't send a probe out, before risking the ship?"

A small message came through to the Taisa. Outside, the Elfin Princess II was on approach to the Eucharis, requesting docking clearance. Inside the zephyr-like luxury vessel, a woman continued to fuss with her hair. There had been time to add a fine layer of something more, and she wanted everything in place. The actual realization that she would be back home in minutes needled her with excitement, stopping all of those cool adjustments.

"It would take a while to get there. I suppose we could have sent a fighter or something if we had one. Speaking of that, I am considering producing one in the fabrication bay. We might use it as a scout or..." Hanako paused as she received the message, blinking in surprise. "Ah, my old first officer has returned," she told Shizu. "I honestly expected her to get a command rather than transfer back to the Eucharis after training. I will have her come up her and join us for dinner." The Taisa texted permission to dock and her location to Misaki.

Sune after completing Junko's backup was finally hungry enough to eat, so he made his way up to the wardroom. Upon entering he noticed the Taisa and the Taii were having a discussion. He quietly made his way over to the buffet so as to not disturb the senior officers.

"You may sit with us," Hanako offered Sune. She was still interested in his potential as a future bridge officer, as mentioned in his original interview. As she waited for Misaki to join them, Hanako ate more of her dinner.

The Princess swung into place, coming along side the Eucharis long enough for Misaki to drift into the systems and get an accurate external view of her home. The most important reason for her not wanting to take a command was on board the Plumeria, and when she could finally come aboard, Misaki drifted into the Zero-G passage, deciding the heavy bags she held all in her left hand could just be set down inside the wardroom. [i}Dinner...almost nothing sounds better to me right now.[/i] She thought fondly. With a flurry of blue, accents of white and a lining of new silver at the edges, Misaki's hair found gravity again when she set down inside, smiling warmly at the assembled, her purple eyes darting rapidly to Hanako. She bowed, properly, more than she thought she could manage, then exhaled. "I'm home."

"Welcome home," Hanako greeted Misaki. "Please, grab a plate and join us for dinner."

Shizu's cup found its place perfectly to one side of her plate. "Misaki-Chusa," she said, rising immediately to greet the senior officer, "I remember reading about you in the old roster files. I understand you are a War Academy graduate. I am pleased and honored to make your acquaintance, and happy that you have returned to this command."

In the comfort and safety of her own mind, however, Shizu could not maintain such a positive and innocent outlook on things. If the old first officer was returning - a superior officer, for she knew that Misaki outranked her - that left little place for a third officer on the Eucharis. There were only a handful of enlisted, and a ship this size didn't need that many officers. Shizu didn't know whether to be offended, or relieved.

Sune made his way over to the table doing his best to hide his surprise. He found an empty place at the table and sat there, "Thank you Taisa" he said with a bow. His appetite was suddenly waning in the presence of three senior officers.

"That sounds perfect, thank you." Misaki offered, a few thuds met the floor. She packed a lot. There were more gifts to bring home to everyone, and she had to get things for crewmen on the sister-vessels of the squadron, even if they were little things. The veteran looked over the dark-haired woman, affording her a version of the smile Hanako had the moment before. Listening while she made her way to get a plate, and the other little things she needed to join them. "I'm surprised you haven't seen the manual?" If there was some interest in her career, she thought the years at war, or maybe what she put together would have been mentioned, it made the NH-27 curious about Shizu. "That would make you...Hamada-Taii? Good evening." She sat on the other side of the table, close to the CO, but across from the XO, while pausing long enough to afford Sune a smile also.

"I do not believe we have met Chusa. I am Jalen Sune-Ittô Hei." Sune said to the unfamiliar officer.

Hamada Shizu-Taii sat down. She didn't touch the tea. It was mostly gone anyway, along with her food. Briefly, a little overpowered by the sudden change in climate, she felt like it would have probably been a good time to excuse herself. But those damned courtesy obligations surfaced and she couldn't just leave a new guest sitting there without at least some minor words exchanged.

"I have read the manual," Shizu said simply, "It has been useful, especially on this particular ship."

"We just completed a brief combat training exercise," Hanako told Misaki, wanting to get her up to speed. "There is significant room for improvement. That is something you two first officers should discuss when you get a chance. Misaki, you will find Shizu is a competent professional. And Shizu, you will find Misaki is a fine first officer as well. I dare say I have the pleasure of having the two best First Officers in the fleet under me now."

"Chusa Kurusu Misaki, please. Don't stop eating on account of me." Misaki offered, starting to eat when she was satisfied with the sizable amount of food she'd gathered. She could eat nails, but that didn't mean she wanted to. "I'm glad, I still receive transmissions asking for assistance sometimes, it's been...flattering?" Inadvertently, her nose gave a charming little wrinkle when she smelled a bite of the fillet on way to her mouth. "I missed this." Came the casual note, and a look to Hanako after. Oh, if she makes a habit of saying that I swear I'm going to consider maybe not believing her someday. The solider thought fondly, nodding once when she swallowed some water.

Misaki... I heard that name before." Sune thought, The party, so this is the Misaki that the Taisa was looking for. He selected a small piece of shrimp and ate it quietly.

"I think I may have to break out the wine," Hanako grinned. She was pleased to have Misaki home, and wanted to help the two first officers build a friendship. She mentally sent a text to the cargo manager, Pineapple, who appeared momentary with a bottle of fine red Yamataian.

Lime brought everyone a flute-type glass and a slice of rich chocolate chip-filled chocolate cake, iced with creamy fudge-swirled chocolate cream cheese and walnut chunks and topped with a puff of chocolate whipped cream and a chocolate-coated cherry.

Shizu sipped at her tea, resigning herself to silence for the time being. The overtures between the Taisa and the Chusa were hard to ignore, so naturally Shizu picked up on them fairly quickly. There wasn't much to say, or do, when faced with such a situation except listen, so that is what she did, or at least intended to do. Seeing the wine, she weighed her options very carefully, and chose to stay the coarse. Wine was wine. Cake was cake. "The cooks must work hard," Shizu said, smiling politely, "This looks rather good. Perhaps sooner or later I should take a look into the cold storage, if they keep things like this in there, all day."

"I think I may have to drink it." Misaki replied with a warm, wry tone. That didn't mean any of the food on the plate in front of her was going unattended, not at all. Though once Pineapple appeared, the Chusa couldn't help but be reminded of all the gifts she brought, having to force herself to put it off for later. "Hello Pineapple, it's good to see you again. Lime...I thought the popcorn shrimp were familiar." And well, the super dessert certainly helped the Eucharis' first XO finish her plate to make room. Chocolate cake and wine? Why not? Whenever Shizu looked over, the purple-eyed beauty did her best to offer her as warm a look as possible, sensing she was more than uneased by everything.

"This is an orgasm on a plate," Hanako laughed, staring at the cake for a moment. "But Hamada, I would not attempt to raid the kitchen. At least one of our cooks is known to defend her stock from trespassers with a butcher knife."

Sune accepted the glass of wine and the incredible looking dessert. "I find myself now torn between finishing my dinner or savoring this piece of edible art. I think I shall go for the desert." Sune said, taking a fork full and tasting it.

"Ouch," Hamada teased, clicking her tongue, "That sounds a little bit painful. I think I will stay a good ways out of her reach, in that case." Shizu accepted her wine, displacing her tea slightly, though still keeping the cup within easy reach. She was actually looking forward to this. Lifting the filled glass slightly, she offered a toast: "Kanpai?"

"Or a melon-baller..." Misaki then added a hurried, "...-I would think!" She didn't want to mention which sprites had done what, at least not when there was wine to drink. Wine had to come first, so Kurusu raised her glass, and offered. "Coming home." Before giving it a sip, relaxing faintly in the seat after a few moments. Eying around the table again, she waited for Hanako to take a bite before anything else. It had been something of a habit she had before, something from her first days scraping through training.

Shizu relaxed as well. Although she tried not to, she knew that her etiquitte was going to fly out the window sooner or later. Hamada Shizu was many things. She was a good officer, depending on who you asked. She was a decent executive, also. Took tests well, did excellent on exams, and could run a half a dozen conversations at once - but when it came to drinking, she had picked up her habits on the other side of the Academy wall.

"Kanpai," Hanako repeated, drinking the wine like it was milk, then going for the cake. So good.

Seeing the Taii raise her glass for a toast, Sune swallowed the bit of dessert he had taken, and lifted his glass. "Kanpai." Sune added and then took a sip of the wine.

The Taisa giggled a little, grinning.

In the finest Ketsurui tradition, Misaki drained a good half of her glass, and selected a piece of her cake once she was satisfied they were all on their way with things. I wonder how the others are? She thought to herself, though most of the simultaneous lines of thought she had melted when she did, upon the explosion of chocolate in her mouth. "Mmhn! Mm-hmm!" Home. Well, it tasted like something more languid, but that was home too, if you asked the soldier.

Shizu took a bite of cake out of politeness. Though she had already been provided with a full meal, once again those damned courtesies kicked in. The first toast was finished, so she washed the bite down with another sip of the wine afterwards. She wasn't sure of the vintage or origin, but it was on par with at least one of her favorites.

"Taisa, this is a most excellent wine. Far better than anything I had on the Bouken." Sune said.

"Bouken? A, omoshiroiname..." The woman with hair that could remind someone of some tropical flower offered. She saw the potential for more adjustments to that, it had been some time since she'd been able to ply her hobby to any of the crew of the gunship. Misaki could get to that later. Enjoying the wine, the Chusa found herself tracing the shape of Hanako's gold eyes with her own.

"Thank you," Hanako nodded. "I managed to find it on the public network. There are actually a lot of useful things sold there...quite the variety. I have a lot...we should find more time to drink it."

Misaki cleared her throat, feigning seriousness. "I wholly endorse that plan, tactically and strategically, Taisa," though she could not keep a smile from etching back into her features, anyway.

"Hai," the Taii replied to both the Chusa and the Taisa, setting her glass down and examining the remainder - which wasn't much. The wine glittered faintly, she thought, in the glow of the ship's lighting. That was, however, all she said.

Hanako began wondering where Misaki was sleeping tonight.

Glancing between the Chusa and the Taisa again, catching the chemistry - since it wasn't hidden, and the way they were looking at each other was far from subtle - the Taii picked up her glass and bowed slightly. "I think it is getting late. I have several things I should do, before turning in. Kanpai!" Shizu offered one last toast, finishing the rest of her glass and setting it down, "And good evening."

"That reminds me." Misaki smiled, her glass empty, bottom lip a little wet. It brought out the shade of her lips a hint, which she had remembered only minutes before she arrived. "I did bring gifts for everyone, even in the other ships. I'll try to get them out as I have time. I didn't know how long we would be on the frontier this time, so I thought it would help everyone's spirits." Caught a hint off-guard, the Chusa blinked twice, and looked to the hasty retreat. "Well, good evening, Taii."

Sune sipped his wine enjoying the taste. And listening to the others, it gave him insight into the personal side of the officers.

Bowing slightly again, Hamada excused herself from the table. At the door, she did look back, but it was only very briefly. On whim, she decided to send someone a message, before turning in. Suddenly she felt rather disoriented and out of place. Old friends were best for that sort of thing.

The Taisa, also surprised, watched Hamada go with a worried expression. "I hope she is not feeling displaced by you...I accepted her fully as a first officer and although you are both First Officer by job, the rank makes her the Second," Hanako explained, pouring a new glass and drinking it quickly.

Sensing the dinner was breaking up, Sune felt it was best to depart. "Thank you for the wine and the pleasure of sitting at your table Taisa. I should probably be retiring." Sune said.

"I can understand. She's probably a bit on edge, Hanako. I'm already planning to speak with her privately if I can....oh, leaving already, crewman? Good evening." Misaki stopped, deciding the last bites of the perfectly overboard cake could suffice until Hanako bid the medic good night. She found another glass herself, in the interim, and went at it in a few long, long sips. Well, I hope she's the sort that will be all right with it. I'll have to run another check on her dossier.

"Very well," Hanako replied to Sune, feeling like she'd done something wrong. Meanwhile, Hanako received a message from Blackberry that they had arrived at HX-12. "Misaki, we have arrived." After taking another few bites of her cake, the Taisa rose from her seat, ready to return to the bridge.

Sune bowed to the Taisa took his tray from the table and disposed of his trash. He left the wardroom and headed down to his quarters.

"No time like the present." Misaki nodded, getting up. She could get her bag back later. Licking her bottom lip, she snuck a look around, then quickly went to hug Hanako, which was something that she'd wanted to do well before two big glasses of wine. After, there was more, but duty always came first. "Now I am ready, sorry..." She murmured. "After you?"

"Right," Hanako grinned. "To the bridge!"

Back in her own compartment, Shizu sat at her small desk and stared at her unpacked luggage. She had not accomplished much in the way of anything she had set out to do, this morning. Vaguely she wondered if that wasn't some sort of blessing in disguise, having her belongings already packed for her. The old First Officer was back, and it was fairly clear who the Taisa preferred.

Fine with me, Shizu commented to herself, remembering in part some of the rumors she had heard about the ship. It was, to her, the difference between an ideal and a reality. Somewhat sullen and certainly introspective, the Taii pulled her duffle bag over and dug inside of it until she found some of her more presonal belongings. This particular belonging was the sort that came in flasks.

Settling back, Shizu kicked her boots off and crossed her legs before motioning vaguely to a certain space in the middle of the compartment.

"Charisma?" she asked, "Can you open a communications channel to the Ketsurui Fleet Academy? I want to place a call for a Kohosei there."

She waited a little while before the answer came. When an image finally did appear, it was a recording of sorts. The bust of a cheery, bright-haired computer sprite greeted her, happily, with; "Ketsurui Fleet Academy Shoi-Kohosei are not allowed to receive transmissions from commissioned officers above the rank of Shoi, Taii-sama!"

"Not even if they have orders already?" she ventured.

"This is the Academy," the image replied, showing an inordinate and gross amount of frank glee that made Shizu want to throw something at it, "Not a ship, Taii-sama!"

"Ah," echoed Shizu as the image disappeared. Left to herself, she stared at the ceiling.

"Well, then," she added, picking at the cork on the bottle disparingly and addressing Charisma, "I will be indisposed until further notice. Please, if someone asks, inform them that I am taking a short break to sort out my personal belongings, and that I relinquish my position on the bridge to the more superior officer for the time being."

When Hamada was fairly sure that she wouldn't be bothered, and there was no banging on her door summoning her to perform her duties, she relaxed in the quiet of her room.

"Kanpai," she offered, lifting the drink to her own shadow, dimly outlined.

'Kanpai!' came the echo from memory. Shizu almost felt their elbows lock.

What a shame.

Junko had been delightfully bored since returning to Engineering from her backup and physical. The arrival of the Elfin Princess II had caused a little disruption; whenever two ships docked, the pressure, atmospheric mix, and other variables of connection through the docking tube had to be carefully watched. While the automated systems could take care of the situation fairly well themselves, the sheer possibility of disaster when two ships were in such close proximity certainly warranted an extra pair of eye keeping tabs on things. But the yacht had long since left, and Junko was now left with only checking a few more things over. She wandered around the compartment, listening to the sounds of coolant flowing through pipes, the hum of energy fields, and faint buzzing of power conduits. Her short time aboard ship had already taught her that the best diagnostic tools for an engineer were her ears. For the moment, though, nothing was out of the ordinary and the diagnostics displayed on the main screens agreed. Nearly finished with her watch, Junko pulled up the primary displays for Endoh, who would be coming down to take over in moments, and made a note in the log. The hour hit, her relief entered the compartment, and Junko left, ready to get to her rack and to sleep after a long, hard day.

Sune returned to medical instead of his cabin as he wanted a few minutes to sort out the events in the lounge. He took a seat at the desk and pulled up the proposal he was working on so that he could multitask.

He was not sure what prompted the Taisa to invite him to join them. He was honored naturally, but the three senior officers were rather involved in their discussion which he could not really add much to. It was a rare opportunity though in his opinion to be able to be at the table with three senior officers and see them in a more casual light. I probably should have spoken more, but what could I add. It would have been rude to interrupt their discussion. I can always ask the Taisa some time if there was something specific she was wanting to discuss.

Then there was the situation of the return of Kurusu Misaki, the prior First Officer, what did that bode for Hamada Shizu. A ship can not have two first officers, and would it not appear as a black mark against Hamada-Taii for her to leave the Eucharis or be given a different assignment so soon after being assigned? he thought. Hamada seemed a capable officer from what he had seen.

It would appear that there is more to the Taisa and Chusa's relationship than just professional. he thought I may not be well versed in interpersonal relationships, but it was hard to miss the looks, and the subtle dynamics of their body language. Well in the morning I will send the Taisa a note thanking her and to see if there was something specific she wanted to discuss.

After completing his deliberations, Sune switched off the display and went to his cabin to get some sleep.