Gambling on Midas: Flight of The Phoenix Episode 1

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Gambling on Midas
Flight of The Phoenix: Episode 1
(a Firefly RPG)

If there was anything more miserable than being on Whitefall in winter, it was being broke on Whitefall in winter.

Genesis flexed her fingers inside the leather gloves and felt her own warm breath caught in the gray scarf she'd added to the upturned collar of her brown coat. It helped but it didn't help enough. It was a marvel how the fresh snow mixed immediately with the dust of the planet so that what should be pretty and white just looked dingy.

“Let's get this stuff loaded, like yesterday, people.” She knew it came out as an ill-tempered bark, the rasp of her voice making it even rougher, “Let's get off this rock and somewhere warm.” It was a rhetorical kind of order anyway, nobody was in the mood to stay.

Nessa motored by on the mule and up the ramped cargo bay door, bundles piled behind her seat and the small trailer behind that loaded similarly. Terran was hitching a ride on the back, his expression grim. The engines were already beginning to whine, Zoey was on the job in the engine room.

Shouldering the canvas sack that held far too little coffee, tea, and flour for her liking, Genesis trekked up the ramp behind the mule, pausing to look back. At least they didn't need to wait for Narcissus and Lawry, they'd never left, Whitefall wasn't their kind of place.

Genesis nodded to the doctor, who stood at the door controls, “Everyone's home, button it up.”

She handed off the sack to Joseiah, “There's a few more foodstuffs on the mule,” she told him, “best be gettin' those put away.” Mostly that pressed protein crap. Again. Goose's little egg producer would be in demand as always.

“Goose!” Genesis called across the hold to the co-pilot, “Morgan's already up t' the bridge, she likely knows we're headed to Persephone, Eavesdown docks. Now you know, too, tell her to get it goin'.” Her voice dropped to a grumble, “I've got no need to see a minute more of this place.”

As the ramp came up, a puff of snow entering around the edges in a kind of spiteful last word, the engines reached a higher pitch. Genesis thought there could be no sweeter sound. Not that it could erase the absolute stinking rotten--

Teeth bared, eyes cold, she threaded her way through the working bodies, footsteps heavy and quick. She'd get to her quarters, maybe throw some cold water on her face, and try not to murder anyone until she'd had a chance to calm down.

Gorram it, Patience and her skinflint ways...

[Knighthawk]

“Goose! Morgan's already up t' the bridge, she likely knows we're headed to Persephone, Eavesdown docks. Now you know, too, tell her to get it goin'.”

Shì shì shàngwèi!

Gregory replied, He had taken a moments time before to gather some snow and put it in a mason jar for his collection. He had picked up the habit from another browncoat who said she wanted a piece of everywhere she went buried with her when she died as a map of where she had been. Since all she had was a piece of shadow when she was shot, she got buried on Hera with a jar in her hands. He took a jar of her grave with him and started his own collection that now the jar of snow added too. He took the stairs two at a time as he caught a chain for balance as he flew up to the catwalk and barreled down the neck of the firefly. He shot past his own bunk with his usual honk down the hole that was met with a squawk of reply back up as always, he made a hop up over the last steps and caught himself in the doorway to the bridge.

Persephone, Evesdown docks, get goin'.

His breath was winded slightly, he always loved running through the ship whenever he could to keep himself fit. Running, climbing, and when no one was looking he'd swing from the chains like a monkey. He'd wait for Morgan's acknowledgement before he would leave to head back to his bunk.

[BloodVendetta]

"Ta ma de!" I'm never gonna' be good at this stuff.' Terran spoke loudly, then thinking to himself. He was doing his best to compose a reply letter to home, to his little sister Val, so that his family could at least have some way of knowin' that he was still alive and kicking. His bunk was cramped....and a bit messy, but it was more a than sufficient to him he figured, seeing as he had never come from much to begin with.

"I..have...been...doing...fine....how's...ma...and ...pa...?" Terran mumbled aloud as he wrote, his handwriting just lingering on the side of neat enough to read. He had the curse of the simpler folk and he knew it, thinking about Val's words, her dreams to one day live on a fancy planet full of fancy clothes, foods, and parties. That kind of life might could be for, he reckoned, but knew that it wasn't for him. The life that he was living now was for him.

The Firefly vessel, the Phoenix, that he had been welcomed aboard just a few short months ago reminded him of home in ways, but really...it reminded him of himself. The ship was simple, you could find a little dust or rust here and there, but it was a good ole' boat and it never asked for much. That's why he liked it, had a strange respect for. It wasn't just parts made of metal, wires, and bolts, no, to most of the crew it was more than that; it was home, shelter, and protection. He smiled a bit at the thought, taking a moment to look up from his writing and to the surroundings of his bunk. He felt the, oh so too short, fleece throw that his mother had knitted him, that had come in a package along with his last letter from Val; a little piece of home away from home. A little goofy, he knew, but none the less...he loved it.

With that he returned his attention back to his letter, still a work in progress, thinking about what he should say. 'Straight to business I guess.' He thought to himself and began writing once again, in his usual fashion...

"I...will...send...monee...I mean money....as...soon....as...the...captain...finds.. .us...a...nother....wait that's one word....another....job....I...promise....love....y ou..."

[Treanna]

‘Welcome home’ Morgan said to herself with a smile as captain pulled into the cargo bay. She could tell even from the complete other side of the ship the captain wasn’t in the best of moods.Which all things considered, the captain being in just a bad mood was probably a blessing. Which Morgan couldn’t blame her, getting as little pay as they did was as much an insult as a injury. But, unfortunately in this line of work there isn’t much to do about such things.Morgan leaned back slightly in her chair as she looked around the cockpit and began to doze off slightly. One of the joys about being a pilot was that she didn’t typically have to help a whole lot unloading cargo, unless the captain requested the help.
Morgan had been on the ship for a while helping making sure she was ready to fly. So, she was not dressed for the cold, she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and was wearing typical clothing. She almost always was wearing the same grey coat she had on. It looked a little too big for her but not so much so that it looked like it was wearing her instead of the other way around. It had belonged to her father, and besides the photo of the two of them she kept in the cockpit it was all she had left of him. She kept the cockpit pretty neat, she had a few knickknacks laying around the give it some character but besides that nothing out of the ordinary.
Morgan let out a startled scream as Goose came into the cockpit, regaining focus of her surroundings. “Ai Ya Goose, scared me half to death.” She said turning and looking at him. “We will be gone before you know it.”
Treanna turned around finishing her launch preparations she flipped on the intercom “Hello lovelies, this is your pilot speaking. We will be leaving momentarily so please make sure you have all your belongings so we have no reason to return to this frozen hell hole. Thank you!” She couldn’t help but smile a bit as she finished her announcement. As sarcastic as that message sounded she knew everyone would know she was joking. She loved the crew, even though she has not been with them an amazingly long time they were the closest thing to a family she had. Morgan honestly had no clue what she would do without the Captain and everyone else, and even though she was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, people on the ship, she knew she had their respect. She figured she would give everyone a few more minutes before taking of and leaving this place behind them.

[InkedWolf]

"Come on Trixie, you know i the Captain finds out your loose again. We'll both be in a heap of trouble!" Zoey cooed as she tried to locate her trusty partner in crime. She spied the sable ferret poking her head out of her tool kit. "There you are!" She scooped up the tiny ferret and placed her back in her multi tiered cage, so she couldn't get into much trouble. Goose had made that cage for Trixie when there was an incident involving ferret extraction from his pet.

"Nooow, where was I..." She picked up her spanner as she returned to working on the ship's drive. As she continued to work, she began to sing. But I'm not broken, in my dream I win . In here I'm nothing, a Cosmic Castaway!" She was greeted by an audible dook from Trixie for her trouble. "Oh come now, I don't sound so bad..."

There wasn't much Zoey understood in the universe, except ferrets and engines. She'd been brought on by the Captain of this firefly vessel shortly after her "resignation" from the Alliance ship bays. She had a disagreement about her superiors refusing to bring in a Browncoat vessel that was obviously in need of repair. She even offered to pay for the repairs out of her own wages. After he still refused to bring them on, Zoey decided it was time for her and Trixie to find some better friends. Of course she also dismantled every Alliance ship the same night she fled the station, teach those gorrem jerks how to ignore a request for help...

She'd proven herself several times over, the old girl has never run smoother. She had a loyalty to the Captain for the opportunity to just keep working with machines. Not to mention she'd been able to see more planets in the short time she'd flown with the Phoenix then all her years before with the Alliance.

Both girl and ferret had an unbridled curiosity that this ship just seemed to be the cure for. She braced herself as Morgan made the announcement for take off. "Allright, hang on Trixie. We're leaving."

[NecroTec]

Lawri knelt on the floor next to the slightly open door listening to and feeling the rest of the crew return. When he first came on board he could just feel where people were. But he had gotten to know them and could feel the differences.
In the hold the captain yelled, “Goose! Morgan's already up t' the bridge, she likely knows we're headed to Persephone, Eavesdown docks. Now you know, too, tell her to get it goin'.”
Although there were times - like this moment - he didn't need his abilities to figure out where someone was. But he could feel more. The nearly ever present tension in the captain. The energy of Goose as he raced through the ship. Others in their bunks or at their stations. He wondered again if Zoey felt the ship as he could feel the life on board it. But he knew better than to ask such questions - usually.
“Hello lovelies, this is your pilot speaking. We will be leaving momentarily so please make sure you have all your belongings so we have no reason to return to this frozen hell hole. Thank you!”
A similar thought popped into his head about Morgan: when she flew the ship, was it just knowledge and skill or could she feel it?
He braced the door in its partial open position so it wouldn't slam during the ship's passage up to space.
Persephone. He should be able to get some sunglasses there so the others wouldn't look at him funny when he walked past medical with his eyes closed – just in case there was blood. He had heard that smell was the most powerful trigger for memories but his memories weren't the problem so the scent of blood wasn't an issue.
He wondered what else was waiting for them on Persephone? Did Narcissus know they were headed there? And had he found any clients? Lawri thought he should ask.

[OiHarkin]

"And when will I see you again, dear?" Narcissus demurred softly to the face on the communicator screen, a middle-aged woman of some import who found her husband's company terribly dull at best - and brutish when he had too much to drink. "We've just started patronising a new sculptor whose work you simply must rip to shreds. I'd love to give you a tour of his atelier."

"Cassandra, you vixen, you know nothing quite gets my blood pumping like art criticism." He idly toyed with the hem of his kimono, flashing her a little of his toned chest with feigned absence of thought. "It breaks my heart, but work keeps me traveling awfully often, you know how it is. I'm afraid I shan't be in your neck of the woods for a month at least." The relationship between the two of them wasn't sexual, at least not yet. She wanted it to be, he could tell that much, but she was just working up to it. Her husband, an admiral, was away on duty often and, being a military man, had about as much culture as a recently sterilized brick.

"Oh. Well."

"I promise you, I shall call as soon as I'm within ten parsecs of Londinium." He purred to her and the two made their goodbyes - he didn't want the blare of the engines on take off to give away that he wasn't actually renting out a dinky little shuttle aboard a Firefly. From her camera's perspective, the liberal use of throw cushions and silken drapes would mask the bulkheads and the venting grates, creating the impression of an elegant, imperial purple boudoir.

With the call ended, he gathered his clothes about him and got up, padding down the shuttle and looking for Lawrence. After locating his indentured servant, he came up behind Lawrence softly and lightly touched the younger man on the shoulder. "Come back to the shuttle, dear heart. We should buckle down for take-off."

[Kagura]

Nessa didn't like unloading. Hell, who did? But she wasn't getting paid just to shoot people. Not just to, anyway. Come to think of it, she wasn't getting paid at all currently. So what if she set down the boxes with a little more force than necessary? She pulled her knife out of her grey belt and pried the box open with it to see what's inside. Protein bars in every color of the rainbow. Yum-ruttin-my. She should order someone to carry this to the kitchens. Then she remembered the preacher was taking care of it. Not her problem.

She moved on to another box. There was... straw in it? The hell did Gene buy? Crazy chwen joo (retarded pig). She started shifting around in it, hoping for something interesting. Nessa's knuckle landed on metal. Well, a gun! She pulled it out. That wasn't a gun. That wasn't even a weapon unless you clubbed someone with it. She turned the thing around in her hands a few times. Money was wasted on this piece of space trash? Nessa set the thing down on the mule and dug around in the straw some more. Nothing else. Seriously?

She picked up the piece of metal. Bulky. Dull. Metal-like. There was a person on the ship that was good with bulky, dull, metal-like objects. So she headed down to the engine room where she figured their messed-up-inside-the-head mechanic would be. Probably with that gorram ferret. Demon spawn from hell itself, that was. At least the goose was useful. Sometimes. It'd be more useful to have it plucked and glazed. Nessa can't remember the last time she had meat. Real meat. Not that protein disguised as meat. Come to think of it, wasn't meat protein that just tasted better? Don't matter much, really. Taste is everything when it comes to food.

“ENGIE! GOT SOMETHING FOR YA!”

[Gisk]

Elijah said nothing as he palmed the button to close the hatch. The draft was cut off suddenly and mercifully, and Elijah walked away from the door as the crew bustled about with various tasks. He could already feel the engine warming up beneath his feet. It was time to go, and to Persephone, at that. He was excited to see civilization, even if he had no money to make the best of it.

"It's good to see you all come back uninjured," he commented to the captain as she walked by. By the look on her face, an injury was not yet out of the question. She would surely head somewhere to be alone and cool down.

Elijah had no tasks himself, so he picked up one of the crates of food and smiled at the preacher, "You could use a hand, I suppose."

[InkedWolf]

Zoey grimaced as she refastened the bolt links on the engine. "Come on guys, just fasten!"

When she first arrived on the Phoenix, the engine was in a state of disrepair. The electrostatic matrix was a mess. She had cobbled together a replacement from parts borrowed from the Alliance. She was good, but the next time they docked in a place that wasn't below freezing she'd need to perform some real work on the engine.

She ignited the welding torch. She began to weld the first bolt into place as a voice nearly knocked her tiny frame off the platform.

“ENGIE! GOT SOMETHING FOR YA!”

"Da Chow Jing Ser! You scared the livin' daylights outta me Nessa!" Zoey hopped down from her perch as she greeted the First Mate. Nessa never really did so well with machines, probably because she didn't listen to the ship like she did.

"What's up?" She smiled at Nessa as she noticed the metal object in her hands. "Gao Guhn, the Capt'n found it!" Without delay she snatched the object from Nessa.

"I've been waiting on this for the last two drops! It's to help stabilize the ship in re-entry! I've been making due with a busted piece of debris fer the last season." She happily began to reinstall the part, "By the way Nessa, I got some jerky from the town fer Trixie. It's a little tough, but help yerself to some!" Most would criticize Zoey for her choice of spending her share on her ferret. Trixie was her little way of keepin' her happy in flight.

As she continued to work, "How'd the last job go? We get paid? Phoenix here need a little lovin' and I'm still workin' with scraps."