The Captain's Roast

[HarperMadi]

RP Date

44.5

RP Location

0450-2475 South of the Great Blue Rift

YSS Koun,
Bearing 315, grid 0450-2475
Western Frontier, immediately following first contact with Rythenkan Federation Vessel Tuat'la

LAST TIME

Alastair was keeping his cool. He had to hold back saying to the snek, now listen here you little shit. He knew they had a job to do and this was just part of the it. To assume he would ignore an order from his beloved Hanako was just maddening.

"It is interesting you'd point that out about the XO. See if I am no longer the captain of this fine vessel, because I am owner of a space station. I'd picture that she would have been promoted to acting captain. So at this very moment, I am a guest on the Koun being transported to see Hanako." He looked over towards Kamiko Akino. "So how did we end up here may I ask." She quickly jumped to attention. "Sir, I was ordered to bring you to see Hanako. As the ranking officer I was just following orders." Alastair was now pacing. "Was you given orders from command to assume control of the Koun?" She looked at him and then the snek. "I was not." "But clearly we left port and there is not a soul on my station that would let a ship leave without a captain and for sure not without my permission." He paused and let that hang in the air for a moment. Akino looked at him with a confused look on her face. "But sir, you put me in charge of the Koun before we left."

He looked at the snek with both his hands palm up in a you see gesture. "I don't know what to tell you here. Clearly if this ship was as important as you say, orders would have been given to someone to take command. Instead I kept it from being forgotten about and not only that, made first contact with a new race. This all while on a cruise to see Hanako." His arms crossed in front of his chest. "Normally I'd write a report a mile long documenting all this. However, I am a reasonable person who understandings command gets busy. They put people like me in charge, to handle these type of situations so they can focus on the big issues. Now I am more than happy to come back with you and share this embarrassing failure with Hanako personally." He leaned in towards the snek. "Or I am allowed to continue on my way and this gets filed as a faultless error." He leaned back away from the snek. "Either way I am destined to see Hanako."

YSS Koun

Alastair's explanation of his intention to see Hanako rendered a very blank response from Aerlia. "You.. are going to sssee Hanako-taisho?" One or two of the MPs in the Bridge visibly were holding in laughter.

"Belmont-ssshosssa, do you not realise where we are? We're outssside the Great Blue Rift." The Separa'Shan stared at him. "The Koun is outssside of Yamataian ssspace by a long, long distance." Aerlia tapped on the console to bring up a splash map of the Kikyo Sector onto the Bridge screens.

"We are at a bearing of 315 from the galactic centre, that being Planet Yamatai--" The Shosa seemed to be glancing around the Bridge for something. "--if only your navigator wasss here to sssave me sssome breath and explain themssselvesss."

Aerlia sighed and continued. "Xylar, the home of PISCESss is 20 LY north east of Planet Yamatai. What you've done is blown not only ssstraight out of Yamataian ssspace, but in the wrong direction."

Her reptilian eyes slowly closed and opened, "To my knowledge, Hanako-taisssho is in Persssonnel Headquartersss. ON PLANET YAMATAI." Aerlia raised her volume but didn't change her tone, still remaining very monotone.

She raised from the Captain's chair, slithering right up to Alastair. "We have had to chase you far out of range of any friendly fleet. Luckily, the Wyvern isss equipped for this, but we need to return to the sssafety of Yamataian ssspace within good time. Luckily, that's in the direction of Hanako-taisho, so at leassst that'sss one error we can correct immediately."

Osakura looked forward again once Alastair's PDA had been given to the other Shosa. The more she kept listening, the more she is kicking herself for allowing herself to become soft. A simple check of standing orders and any others she had need-to-know would have all she needed to do to correct this "mistake". As much as she would like to lash out at what was being cultivated on this ship, that one action still falls on her.

Her face visibly gotten sadder as her thought process continued in this direction until she heard Alastair's attempt to verbally worm himself out it. Her face snapped towards him and her self-critical pity party was burned with the rage of at least a Brown Dwarf star.

But the SAINT poker face started to take over as she compartmentalized the process before she was going to get in trouble. She wanted to make it to Taii before resigning and he just put a giant roadblock to that.

"Sir... Belmont-Shosa... Might your lowly Intel Analyst suggest employing less words. You are only dragging your whole crew down with you."

She then looked towards Aerlia and bowed deeply.

"As the Intel Analyst, I should have checked with the Communications Officer and XO of confirmation of Standing Orders. If we had done this, none of this would have happened. I shall submit my resignation and accept my punishment for my failure." Osakura said, she just wanted this over.

---

Aliset stepped off the shuttle, unceremoniously tossing her space suit into a locker as she slipped her knife back onto her belt. "Alright, Say, let's get back to the bridge before they start hearing music over the comms."

It felt good to be back on her own ship. Her eyes stung, her head hurt, and she felt slightly woozy. Easily explainable by her having not eaten in almost a day at this point. She would be fine, she told herself. "Koun-Chan, how you doing, sweetheart?"

Not waiting for an answer, she followed Sayuka towards the bridge, already planning the jump course back to Pisces station to offload the recent data and her calculations for the jumps involved. She just needed to account for the possiblity that the Katamurans knew, and worse, were smart enough to not come after them with small skirmishers. No, if the pirates were coming, she expected three light cruisers and a heavy, each a beehive of skirmishers and hullrunners. It was better to leave and hope the Rythenkans had the same idea. But the Katamurans would be coming from the direction she would need to go.

No, they needed to get the MPs back on their ship and go.

Spoiler

@Miko @Yuuki @Ethereal @demibear

 

[Yuuki]

Sayako strode down the ramp of the shuttle, quickly enough to break ahead of Aliset. "I see. Thank you, Nakama Shōi for the constant updates. Please tell them the away team for the first contact has finished I am on my way to the bridge." Slumping her shoulders momentarily with a pale blue fading pulse, she felt she needed to intervene on the captain's behalf. "Sickbay, please get ready to receive Belmont-Shōsa as a patient under recommendation and authority of the Chief Science Officer. ...no there is no current suspected diagnosis. Just prepare the infirmary and register him."

 

[Miko]

Alastair reached up and once more rubbed the bridge of his nose. Had they really took his orders to mean the Great Blue Rift. He had clearly shared he would need several days to write his report from the conference. His mind was working overdrive to make sense of it all. Then it finally dawned on him what had happen. Sayako had asked the night before where they would be going. He jokingly said, where no Belmont had gone before. In his after glow phase, his mind slipped. He let out a sigh, this was why he was always proper and never one to be anything else. He knew when he let go of the wheel, bad things happened.

He looked back towards the snek. "It's a story that can wait for when we get out of this place." He then overheard his name being called to the medical bay. "I am just going to call it a day and go lay down. Just try and get the ship back into our own space in one piece please."

 

[Ethereal]

Aerlia blinked as Alastair suddenly seemed intent on washing his hands of the situation. A moment ago he was still trying to convince them that his orders were valid and he was in command. At least this made things simpler. "Belmont-shosa, feel free to retire to the Captain's Suite. Jambavan here and a few other MPs will keep you company in the room." The Separa'Shan gestured to her Kodian counterpart. "However, you may remain in a purely advisory role if you're interested in keeping this crew alive, should anything happen. While disappearing into your room would be easy, you are still a trained officer and I have a feeling that we will need all the thinking minds we can get in case we're ambushed in this kami-forsaken place."

The offer was there, in the meantime, Aerlia nodded to the XO, Kamiko. "In any case, I see no pressing reason as to why you cannot assume command of this vessel until we get back to Yamatai." She slithered over towards the Neko, "Provided you follow instructions so we can get you back to port until this mess is sorted out, that is." The white-panelled reptile began to make her way out of the Bridge.

"Shoi Natsuko." Aerlia addressed one of her subordinates, "I'm returning to the Wyvern so we can lead the way out. Please ensure things move smoothly here and keep the Away Team with you. We have enough crew for you to remain here." With that, the other Captain looked up towards Osakura and Sayako, who seemed to be broadly the most competent at a glance. "If someone could ensure that Belmont-shosa writes his report before we get back to Yamatai, that would be appreciated. I don't want Command to be waiting." The Separa'Shan then slithered towards the exit to the Bridge, making her way out to the shuttle and back to the Wyvern.

 

[Yuuki]

Reaching the bridge just as Alastair and the MPs began to exit, Sayako's sensitive ears overheard the conversation within. "Chief Science Officer Takeda Sayako, the YSS Kōun is at these coordinates under my authority as Chief Science Officer of a Star Army vessel to initiate first contact with an unknown FTL capable species," she bowed to the MPs exiting with him, "I just arrived from the shuttle bay after concluding the away mission." Sayako smiled politely then immediately began speaking quickly and decisively, leveraging her lack of a need to breathe, "I was on my way here to check on Belmont-Shōsa. He was exposed to an unknown chemical agent aboard the vessel and I recommended he be checked out in sickbay based on my obvervations as a trained Science officer. They are prepared to receive him. Has the Captain said or done anything unusual since he has been aboard? I think once he has been cleared by Medical then he would be able to give an official statement."

 

[HarperMadi]

Or... That was the plan, as Aliset entered the bridge in unbroken stride, mid rant about how she had been dragged off the map with no instructions aside "go that way", had dodged Katamura so far, and hoped to continue doing so. There were no orders, no indication of where they were supposed to be, and Ali wouldn't be stopping until they were on Yamatai proper with no stops for fuel, food, or even particularly interesting glowing rocks, and walking straight into the busom of a particularly large Separa-shan.

With a squall of surprise, she stepped quickly to the side, tripping and falling over, falling flat on her bottom, landing on the Captain's tail with sharp, best not translated curses in Shuristan as she hit the floor with a room shaking boom.

 

[Ethereal]

Aerlia was shocked to say the least to suddenly have a metallic girl slam into her scaly chest with some springiness. The impact of the collision took her off guard, the Separa'Shan hissing angrily as her tail snapped back and forth. Sadly, one of those annoyed sways was timed to when Aliset's heavy butt crushed right into the fragile tip. A nasty crack sound came with it, loud enough to hear a few meters away. Instantly. Aerlia darted forward instinctively, lengthy fangs flashing, straight towards Aliset's shoulder.

The sharp, venomous fangs penetrated the Senti's silvery flesh, a little less easily than would normally be the case. They sank in, injecting a nasty payload of neurotoxins and hemotoxins before Aerlia realised what she was doing. Pulling back, the fangs came free, leaving wounds that leaked thick blue blood. Immediately, the Separa'Shan was both embarassed and no small amount of furious.

"My tail!" She hissed, pulling the delicate appendage free and to her front. It was visibly broken, off at an odd angle. The snakewoman seemed more concerned with the damage done than the Senti, only looking back to her after a few moments. Clocking what she'd done, she watched silently and glanced back into the Bridge. "Sssshe needsss a medic...-"

 

[HarperMadi]

"Oshi--AAannh... "As Aliset hit the deck, she certainly heard the crunch, and instantly tried to get off the now broken tail, but just as instantly, was bowled over bakwards by a very large, very angry serpentine woman that grabbed her and bit. Feeling the fangs pierce her shoulder, she felt the fire, the pain, the... Pleasure?

Something deep down in her core lit, from nothing, not even the slightest spark, came the raging inferno that slipped from her throat with a cry as her core clenched and her face darkened to a deep blue as her body exploded in sensory overload, the smell of too human blood wafting off her body in a coppery near taste rather than pure smell. The venom carried in her blood was quickly descended upon by those microbes that made up her immune symbiote, though some, a significant portion, even, did exactly what it was meant to do. The enzymes started breaking open cell walls and blocking neurotransmitters. The blood borne portion was neutralized in a matter of minutes. The neurotixins, however, would take longer. Though perhaps fortunately, Aliset's neurochemistry ensured that it wouldn't be lethal. Quite the opposite, inducing hallucinations and euphoria in the next few minutes.

It took a moment, perhaps five before she could gather herself enough to look at the Captain of the Wyvern, still fighting her pounding heart and the spreading numbness from her shoulder as she heard that lovely serpentine voice claiming that she needed a medic. She wasn't talking about herself? Nearly four hundred pounds had been dropped on this woman's tail and she wasn't concerned for her self? "Are you okay, Taisa? I'm sorry I broke your tail... I'll escort you to Medical."

It took her those next few moments of awkward silence to attempt to roll to her feet, fighting the waves of nausea, the hot feeling of her face, and the icy chill of her sweat revealing that irridescense she had never shown before. "I'm okay, let's get you to medical, ma'am."

 

[Yuuki]

“Sickbay, this is the CSO again. Please add one Senti and one Separa’Shan to the registry in addition to the Captain. We are currently en route. Yes. Venis poisoning and broken terminal vertebrae. Yes, that is correct I am not capable of making that sort of error. “ The plan was to keep Alastair from having contact with the police as much as possible. Now they were headed to sickbay with him…

 

[HarperMadi]

"Hold up. Helm, I need a course, heading 110, roll minus thirty, pitch minus 90. Spool up the HFD, keep it hot till you either hear word from the Wyvern or you hear music over on the comm panel. High energy Katamuran polkas or hard bass. Share those course details with Wyvern's helm and then jump." Aliset covered her bleeding shoulder with one hand. Sure, the oils that kept her blood in solution crept along her skin and clothes, and she was glad for the match in color, but it still hurt,

"Chui, what bearing?"

"One zero zero. Yamatai relative. Ish. I got an idea in the console."

"Heading straight for the Giant Black Hole?"

"Yeah. Slightly off center, if you can nudge it. You'll find my calculations for an FTL maneuver in there. I know it looks weird, just trust the math."

"Our starmaps aren't accurate enough to trust it. Not that I don't want to, the implications of it are awesome. But I can't. If I had a map that was accurate to the negative 25th of ten, then I'd trust it. I'm definitely not gonna do it from way out here."

"No biggie. How do you feel about cutting south past Elysia Novus via Freebeer, then? Cause I think it'd be prudent to leave. Before the wild Senti pirates decide they think they can take us. Yeah, we can take a few skirmishers, maybe even a scrap cruiser. But if we shoot at them, they'll run off, see it as a challenge, and come back en masse. And we are but a Plumeria and a Fuji, assuming the Rythenkans don't decide to pull our asses out of the fire."

"That's not hard. Orders, Captain? Chui, get to Medical. You're in no condition to be on the bridge."

"Lemme make sure the pretty Taisa's okay!" She paused for a moment, brows furrowing as she rocked slightly, checking her own neural function. "Okay, that venom's starting to affect me. Do we have any antivenin? No worries. Taisa, shosa, if you'll follow me, please?"

She turned on her heel and started out the exit.

 

[Miko]

Alastair talked his body guards into letting him go to sick bay. An easy task since he told them how much issue the sweet android would be till she was listened too. He had gotten himself settled in, simple idle chat with the medical staff. Then Aerlia was rushed into the medical bay. He over heard something about a broken tail and that the Senti had fallen on it. He could not help but grin and decided to poke fun. "Hey Aerlia, I bet your wishing you had Mindy armor on like my crew right about now." He couldn't help but chuckle. He figured it was nothing serious and he'd know since by this time he was review the tape footage. He was abusing the pause, slow and replay just a little too much. If anything he was more worried about the Senti who got handed a bite out of crime by Aerlia.

Shortly behind Aerlia was Aliset who did not really seem herself. She seemed more, drunk than usual. And seemed to be fonding a good deal more as well. A very interesting reaction to be bitten but he figured things could have been worse. If anything, the worst injury would be Aerlia's pride he'd lay to bare in his report from this accident.

Alastair continued to chuckle, he knew more was to come. He was counting down the seconds on his watch. "And, three, two...one." The medical doors slide open and what seemed like half the crew piled into the room. The concern of his crew had finally reached a break point. "My captain!" Science Officer Mina yelled out as she jumped towards him. "Ladies, please, be mindful of our guests. I am fine, I am fine...I promise. Please, go wait outside." He reached up and gave Mina a pat on the head.

 

[Yuuki]

"My Star Army Science Officer speciality of study is Gravimetric Science. We do not require any map or historical data. My processing power will be enough to solve the situation when it comes. If there is any deviation in the current state of the black hole from Kōun-Chūi's assumptions I will be able to provide the corrections in realtime. I remain connected to the gravimetric sensors and the navigation computer. If I am not back from sickbay before encounter you may trust the data displayed to you is correct to within your stated tolerances."

Sayako had accompanied the group there. She peered at the Nekovalkyrja through narrowed eyes, pulsing a quick triplet of white flashes. "Seki-Heishō," she addressed Mina, "If you are not currently assigned to the medical unit, which as your immediate supervisor I know that you are not, please return to your post. Belmont-Shōsa is in capable hands."

 

[HarperMadi]

"Fascinating. Anyway, Sayako, I didn't know you were a gravimetrics specialist!" Aliset gave an excited bounce from her bed, the android now much prettier as she showed her skillset. "Do you want me to explain the gist of it or did you already look over the equation? I mean, yeah, there are a few complex maneuvers, mostly because a stutterjump is a timing thing that requires either a century or more of drive operations experience or one Hell of a nav computer. I mean, when you pop the hyperspace fold bubble in the same instant you use the continuum distortion drive to boost your speed by a few decimals of light years per hour, I might be able to squeeze a full 2.5 light years an hour out of Koun-Chan's main drive!"

Aliset's bouncing intensified as a medic stripped her out of her shirt to examine the bite wound, before smacking the wound to the sound of Ali giving a squall of pain. But she got the message. Keep talking, keep focused, stay still. "Anyway, I was looking at some papers written by an archaeotech engineer on Shurista on an old, primitive form of CDD and the way it worked, being essentially a local compression-expansion of spacetime style device, so I did some numbers about the interaction between spacetime and the spatial density constant, which told me in turn that the spatial density remains constant, meaning a continuum distortion drive will operate as it passes the shear point between a supermassive gravity well and flat normal space in the interstellar expanse. This means that we can use the CDD in combination with our sublight thrusters to slingshot around the black hole at FTL speeds and deflect our course, shaving two jumps off the normal route!"

Now that her mind was running circles around itself and her imagination came to life before her very eyes, it sounded somehow slightly less insane, her maneuver. As the sea of numbers and constants expanded out to the fabric of space and time revealing her secrets, unfolding around her as the now too busy medbay seemed to fall away, and Aliset could see it. her model became the expanse before her, feeling the twisting, rending forces of gravity across her skin, the interaction creating the magnetic fields in her bones. She could feel the crew moving within her as the forces threatened to pull the thin bit of breath away. She could see the hawking radiation dancing faster than the light falling, exotic matter and antimatter swirling and catching in the light falling past and into the void, and knew that as it pulled her closer like Shurista to Soren, that she was turning, as she raced past falling light and the snapping of gloved fingers that dragged Aliset's drooling form back to reality.

"Yes, doctor," she tried to vocalize the words, finding her tongue numb... And suddenly very interesting!

"She's hallucinating. I think we lost our helmsman."

"Blood infection, Separa venom, and we can't use nanites? And what happened to her eyes? I thought they were red literally yesterday. Where'd this blue come from? You know how hard it is to treat a patient where we have less than two thousand in the entire Star Army?"

"I hear she's got real talent. Something about being the first of her species to recruit."

"That just means more problems for us! Wait, you mean that warrant who had ten years experience as a starship captain?"

"It was just a postage freighter, but yeah. Why, you serve with her?"

"No. It was in the new species medical briefing, didn't you read it?"

"I put it in my pile... Why, was it important?"

"Suzu, I swear to God... Why don't we give them pink bismuth for stomach aches?"

"Because it's cheaper to use nanites?"

"Because pink bismuth is a methamphetamine for her! And because nanites will cause immediate blood sepsis! Gods, if you gotta serve with a species, the least you can do is know what's gonna kill our diversity hire!"

"Why you gotta be like that, Tari?"

"I'm kinda hungry," With those three words, Aliset lost herself in the void again, whispers of "All of us are stardust" or "all these squares make a circle" being the only indication of the images flicking through her hollow, expressionless eyes.

"Captain, helm's not responding."

 

[Ethereal]

Aerlia wasn't as angry as might be expected, Venis were known for being emotionless at the best of times. The snake lifted up the tip of her tail, looking at it with a disappointed expression. It had been snapped down and was wiggling rather pathetically as she moved it a little in one direction. Giving a glance to Aliset, she followed the Senti without an apology, towards Medical. "That wasss not what I expected on my way out." Aerlia muttered, "My XO will be able to handle the Wyvern by themssselvesss." Once they got to the doctors, they began to re-set the vertibrae and gave the Separa'Shan a quick injection of hemosynth. A few minutes as she should be okay. The magic of medical science.

Alastair's comment provoked an annoyed stare from the Taisa, "While I could have come here in a Mindy, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt wherever posssible." She hummed, "If sssomeone had ordered weapons and ssshieldsss we'd be in a different ssscenario." Looking over to Aliset, Aerlia regarded her prone form, "Reflexesss-" Is all she managed to say, right before the Alastair fanclub poured in. Suddenly, things made a bit more sense. He'd staffed his vessel with people who were far too loyal than should be expected after one or two missions. That didn't bode well, the fanaticism required for half the crew to leave their posts while in hostile space to attend to the feelings of one man..

The Taisa glanced at the assembled Nekos and mentally made a note of all the mission-critical personnel. "Asss heartwarming asss thisss isss, your XO probably wantsss you at your actual possstsss, rather than waiting outssside doing nothing." Aerlia wasn't one to mince her words, and didn't care about calling out half the Nekos on the ship. They were in a very precarious situation, potentially with hostile forces spotting them at any moment. One would hope they would take the Taisa's advice. "If you continue to be of isssue, Ssshosssa, I will need to remove you to a more.. orderly environment."

 

[Miko]

Medical Bay, YSS Koun

Alastair slowly looked over towards Aerlia. "While the offer is most welcome to save me from my fan girl club. I do not think there is a hole deep enough you can throw me into that they wouldn't follow. But thank you, most noted and awesome you continue to look out for me. I can see once more why Hanako picks you as one of the favorites." His expression showed he truly meant what he said. A short moment later the XO, acting captain Akino annonced over comms. "All crew, are to return to your assigned station."

"So," Alastair said while putting down the data pad he was writing on. "What kind of venom do you store in those fangs of yours. Look at my Senti, she is tripping like a neko on catnip." His gaze had shifted over towards Ali who was having the medical crew tend to her. "Either way, team will be able to get her back to normal in no time.

Enroute, couple days on way to see Hanako

For the most part, getting out of the Great Blue Rift did not give any unexpected surprises. The overall mood on the ship settled. Alastair had been confined to his room, which worked for him. It gave time to write the report from the conference and also the encounter with the new race. As far as he knew, the crew was doing crew things and the ship was making its way back to the home system. He then heard a knock at his door to be greeted by Sayako who he had requested. "So what have you learned regarding this error? I do not wish for an oversight to overshadow the fact we found a brand new race and possible ally." He looked up from his desk. "And what is the story of your reaction on the other ship. I'd never seen you express those type of emotions before. I was very impressed."

 

[Ethereal]

Pre-Skip
Aerlia looked at Aliset once Alastair mentioned her. She seemed perhaps a little curious or even saddened to see the helmsman passed out. "Sssepara'Ssshan venom. It'sss only presssent in my particular race of my ssspeciesss." The Taisa observed as her tail began to realign slowly. "My clan hasss reasssonably ssstrong venom. It ssseemsss that thessse 'Sssenti' have powerful biology. I'd dread to think what would have happened if sssomeone like yourssself had harmed me inssstead, Ssshosssa."

Post-Skip
The YSS Wyvern had shadowed the YSS Koun out of uncharted and unclaimed space, into Yamatai proper. On the way back, Aerlia took the time to point out the Mobile Strike Force of Rangers from the Garrison Regiment who had spotted the Koun when it originally exited the border. It was composed of an old Ketsueki-class Escort ship alongside a much smaller 4m craft, which seemed almost brand new. She mentioned briefly about some kind of new quick reporting system that they had used, but didn't go into much detail.

The Taisa was more than happy to stay aboard the Koun with the people she had boarded with, conversing with the crew cordially as well as taking statements and evidence wherever necessary. Aerlia was seen here and there writing her own report, while sipping drinks with her now-unblemished tail. At any point they would be arriving at Kyoto, with Hanako already being forewarned of their arrival. Aerlia had advised returning the Koun to its original location on PISCES but had been advised otherwise by the chain of command, which suited her fine. It would let the Wyvern check in at MP HQ in Kyoto, as well as return their Harbinger to his official post.

 

[HarperMadi]

Aliset's controls had identified the craft as a sensor buoy of some sort as she passed it at an easy CDD cruise of about twelve light years an hour. She quickly relayed back to Akino that they had officially passed into Yamataian space, and that Yamatai itself was only about fifteen hours away.

Granted, she still had the pounding headache and the stiffness associated with minor blood infections as her symbiote was still working through its dyoff, repurposing those proteins into sugars for her use. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the territories of the Yamatai Star Empire. As you can see from our travel itinerary, we are not returning to Pisces, in stead heading into Core Yamatai where we will land at Kyoto spaceport for inspection. At twelve light years per hour, we will achieve this in approximately two shipboard days. Our distinguished guests might be pleased to note that I'll be pulling galley duty tonight. Or is that our CSO that people love. Well, either way, I'll be leaving the comment cards so people can vote. Thank you again for flying with the YSS Koun! Pilot Aliset Koun signing off!"

With that, she stood, waving her relief onto the console and gently pressing on her temple. "Alright, Captain. I'm off to galley duty. Any requests?"

 

[Yuuki]

Sayako had busied herself by writing her addendums to the first contact report, since she had quite a bit of explaining to do, regardless of any of Alastair's failings. It would be easiest, she'd thought, if everyone understood she hadn't lost control, and it was all performative for the benefit of the mission. Not that she wasn't upset once she realized what Alastair had done, or, rather, failed to do, but it was more a convenient excuse to have a natural place to do so. And it said as much in her report, along with making it very clear the course that took them outside Yamatai to the first contact scenario was under her authority as CSO and unaware of the Captain's status. She kept a dedicated subprocess running and spare data streams open to continue to compute gravimetric data for Aliset's maneuvers, which filled her spare processing cycles to abate boredom.

Sayako relayed this to her captain. "Belmont-Shōsa, the Rathenkans assumed that I was merely a glorified space probe, and that I lacked free will, whereas I developed the plan to meet them first myself, which was a mistake. They appeared to take this as a grave insult, so I had to demonstrate beyond any doubt that was not the case. I had intended to stage such a demonstration, but the arrival of the military police gave me the perfect opportunity, and when I had deduced the specific reason that was the case, I had the necessary emotional impetus to be as convincing as I needed. In a way, Belmont-Shōsa, your forgetting to secure orders to resume command of the Kōun saved the mission from my error."

 

[Miko]

Once back into Yamatai space, he requested to be let out of his room. The constant efforts of the guards to keep the neko from crawling out of the woodwork was just starting to get too much. He asked to be allowed to walk the main areas. He was glad to see that Aerlia decided to stay over on the Koun. Granted he knew she was more than likely there to gather evidence which he had no doubt she'd find a pile of. Granted the conflicting stories of the crew would make any report a fun read.

"Ah yes, Ali, I do have a request." He said as he walked over to her. "I was talking with my brother Miko who never was one to use the kitchen as a punishment. He suggested to at least make it fun while your doing your work. I hope you enjoy the new outfit." Alastair just smiled, at least he could be a forgiving captain by taking his brothers advise to have her serve in his signature naked apron outfit. He never really did understand the theory behind this but Miko's food was amazing so figured if this helped, no harm in allowing it on his ship.

Alastair met up with Sayako a short while after sending Ali off. It was a shame he would not get to see her face when she found the outfit. "The important thing is that you learned how to adapt to the situation. While not ideal, I do feel it did end up with a better outcome due to your oversight." He looked at her with a smile. "This is all going according to plan. At least minus the snek almost killing Ali. We could have gone without that one but did give insight into Senti. I may have to see about getting some of that venom." He said as he placed his hands behind his back. "Oh, and put in a request for a new captains chair. I fear given everything that happen on the bridge that it might have been damaged. Please inform the logistics officer of my request. Thank you"

He continued on his way to meet up with Aerlia, as they were nearing home so he would need to know how this would all go down. "So do yo plan to escort me all the way to Hanako?" He asked with a smile on his face.

 

[HarperMadi]

"I'm not wearing that..." Aliset looked at the apron, holding it in her hand with a look of mixed disgust and shock as her Captain walked away. "By all the gods known and unknown, I am not gonna wear This!" She tossed the naked apron outfit on her bed as she stripped out of her uniform. It took a few looks. Mag boots, leggings, a camisole.

She looked at the apron once again, and the image showing that nothing was to be worn with it. There wasn't enough money, good enough dick, or a God's will that could get her to pull that out of the down dark deep dark down depths of her footlocker, if she didn't decide to just toss it out an airlock. The only thing she'd consider wasting in such a way, something she didn't have the confidence, body shape, or ability to thermoregulate to wear, with implications that made her uncomfortable. She had promised herself. No more love. No more chasing her lust. Grabbing the apron, she chucked it into the back of her locker to be forgotten.

Shaking her head, she threw a clean shawl over her shoulders, wrapping one end around her hip to tie, the other side to be secured with a brooch. For this, she pulled an ornate little box out of her footlocker, opening the velvet and real wood to reveal the brooch she wanted. One depicting woven brambles holding a gemstone... A gorgeous star cut piece of moldavite of the deepest green, with a fleck, an imperfection filled in with red jasper that had survived the blast. This gem was mined on Rok'Veru, set in solid silver cut from the Ice Queen Mountains of Yamatai. She remembered how he had said he pulled it from the soil, himself, cut it, shaped the silver from ore and casting, polished it with Nicol's help. Was she ready to wear this brooch again?

Levente and Nicol would have both told her how it brought out the blue-green glow of her eyes, contrasting with her hair in that sharp flare. Combined with the deep burgundy of her shawl and the striking white of her leggings, she smiled to herself in the mirror, gently affixing the drop bag to her hip, securing the thigh strap. "Yes, this will work. You look great, Ali. Even despite your shortcomings."

And so she set off towards Koun's galley, where the Chef was god, practicing her Essian phrases as she walked.