Franklin snickered to himself, a dull smile to Alice's face. He plied the little white pill from his pocket and sat it upon the table with a defiant look in his eyes. Next, he brought down a hammer-like fist, smashing the tiny pebble of a thing into a fine powder which coated his hand. Finally, he held his palm next to his face and scoured the length of it with his tongue, eyes still defiantly focused upon Alice. With his feat accomplished, Spencer broke into another bawdy laugh wile he wiped his now wet hand across the face of his jacket. "Next time," He warned her, "Yer gonna have to make it worth my while. A feller cain't be expected t' give a lady what she wants every time, even if she is a tall glass of milk."
Amidst all the jibber jabber about naming things and the disgusting acts happening at the other end of the table, Daziel's face took on a puzzled expression. He jammed a finger under each side of his bandana to adjust his ears as if to ensure he was hearing everything correctly. Leaving the lower cartilage of each impliment jutting out of the fine cloth, he smiled again and started to try bringing everyone back on track.
"I say, it's very good that you're all so excited to work, yet--"
"BURTON!" You see, this is when the massive gentleman on the other end of the video finally began to speak. And despite his volume having been lowered, the man in question was still very loud. His face scrunched up when he shouted and a pointy little tuft of dirty-blonde hair seemed to pop out of formation and slide down his forehead.
Immediately, Daziel's shoulders rose an inch or two and he turned in his chair. The startled appearance was dropped as quickly as it came, however, and Daziel immediately greeted this very angry, very important person. "Ah, John Fox! Why hello, old boy! How pleasant it is to see you today, dear fellow. I say, you are looking a bit out of sorts there, old boy. What ever is the matter, my--"
"Burton! You filthy sycophant!" John Fox was not a nice person, nor was he a good person. He had a fondness for fur-lined collars, you see, and such people while warm even in the coldest of breezes are rarely pleasant to be around. He was the kind of person they based Ebeneezer Scrooge off of. The type of man who gains power due to his ability and then uses it to make everyone miserable. He'd gained weight to spite his wife, and then refused to sleep with her when she admitted with glee that she'd always had something of a fat fetish. He was the sort of person who ate sacks of candy before a trip to the dentist and passed quiet gas in crowded elevators. While he took no pleasure in these things, he took markedly less displeasure in his life for having done them-- and so John Fox was there, yelling at Daziel so he could sleep at night.
"What is this about you pulling the debt from the October file!? And hiring the parents!?" He shouted, slamming a fist on the table and freeing another lock of hair from its gelled prison.
"Ah, yes, well-- you see-- They were not fit to work on the planet, yes? But fit to work on the station, sure, and we need fellows on the station with things, you know." Daziel informed John Fox, holding a finger to the sky. "So, naturally I thought, we've trained these people and we might as well--"
"You didn't think at all, you idiot." John Fox cut Daziel off and clenched his fists, making an ogre-like face. It was hard to believe it, but in fact Daziel was this man's boss.
"I say, no need to get so hot and bothered, dear fellow." Daziel protested.
"Listen to me, you cheery little tinker-toy-- I am supposed to handle accounting for this operation. Not you. And you are moving money around like you are supposed to handle accounting for this operation." There was a pause, so that John Fox could take in a breath and sputter the next word, "
STUPIDLY!"
Daziel peered over his shoulder at everyone behind him for a moment. His eyes searched their faces calmly, as if he were doing some sort of math. Eventually he turned back to the screen and said slowly, "I shall take this call on the bridge."
And then, John Fox opened his mouth to start yelling again; only to be quieted by disappearing completely and leaving only a black slate on the wall where he'd once been. Daziel smiled and turned back to everyone, spreading his arms across the width of the table. "Everyone, I'm terribly sorry. I must ask you to go ahead without me for a while. I shall catch up, and believe me I shall make good speed to do so. Mister Strellan?"
Niel just grunted in response.
"Do stay here and eat something, you look absolutely ragged. As for the rest of you..." Daziel stood up and began pulling equipment from a small chest next to his chair.
"Kindly and carefully examine the other team's landing site for any clue whatsoever, if you would." He started, walking first to Seiji with a handheld scanner and an advanced datapad. "Mister Morimoto, please cooperate with Mister Franklin and examine the terrain and soil-makeup of the area for any peculiarities."
Next, Alice was presented with a simple datapad. "Doctor Mason, if you could be so kind as to keep an eye out for corpses or any organic matter-- which I'd like you to record here. Prepare a field kit in the medical bay as well, if you would, so as to preform autopsy if necessary. Keep them safe while I'm gone, yes?"
Then, the proximity key for the armory was placed before Akemi. "Miss Koga, Miss Mako, do see that you're both adequately armed and prepared to incinerate just about anything if you would. Of course, provide weapons for the others as well, should they ask."
Yori received a datapad like Alice had. "Miss Kataoka, you'd be quite dear to me if you'd play Mister Strellan's role and keep an eye out for the ships or any debris from those ships-- and of course figure out what happened with them and record it here for me. Recover any equipment as necessary."
Finally, poor Sapphire was given charge of a headset of sorts. It was a modified
FatCOM, paired with yet another datapad. "Miss October, you shall be the secretary so to speak. This datapad is constantly uploading to
Sister Sara as well as being synced with the others, and this FatCOM has a camera built-in. Record everything and monitor the feeds to make sure we're getting a constant stream of data from the site."
With everything distributed Daziel whirled around the table one last time to pull a rack of masks from the wall for everyone except Akemi and Mako. With them settled over the table, he took one and hung it limply by its straps around his neck like a giant plastic medallion. "As I said before, I shall catch up as soon as I finish haggling with that oaf of an accountant we've got. I travel fast, so don't worry about me. If there are any questions, direct them to me via Miss October. She'll be able to communicate with the bridge during the whole process. Now, if you'll excuse me-- I'd like to get this over with."
And then he left. Immediately, Franklin took his mask and began putting it on while Niel just sat there looking pitiful and feeling sorry for himself.
