The Agent furrowed her brow. "I hope you're satisfied with what you've done, because Gray Security Forces won't be. You know that cop you KO'd on the street? He ID'd you."

With that, Carly closed down her datapad, and turned to sit at the command console once again.

"Nice work," she said sarcastically over her shoulder.

---

* * * * *

---

Savis seemed to mull the options over for a bit, crossing his arms and pacing the bridge for a few moments.

"The first option is interesting, but keep in mind we're going to need to do groundwork either way. There's no way any ship - even a stealth ship - is getting close to the Palace without getting turned around or shot down. So we could distract them by ushering in a little chaos, but then we'd have to worry about the Royal Shadow Guard being put on alert, potentially complicating infiltration to a degree that would be... unhelpful."

The mercenary stopped his pacing, arms unclasping and refolding behind his back. "So, I think the question is, do we want to play it smooth and steady, or fast and loose?"

All was going well. Aela got to have fun with Paladin and Nikki was likely analyzing her behavior to learn from it. Or at least this was a joke in Aela's mind, it being true or not was unknown to her. Though if she found it to be so it would be her delight to teach curious minds. It was fun to be a part of this posse. They were without the rough exterior and hardy nature. Instead she was the roughest one around. So when they went on about the specs of the operation they were trying to deploy she kept to herself. Only half heartily nodding in agreement.

The man in charge gave a displeased response with the initial plan, even as the Carrion was on its way to the destination the mercenary pointed to. She found it a pleasure to see freelancers of her trade getting handed such advanced and rare technology to work with. Technology with a mind that is easy to be friends with, getting on Nikki's good side doesn't hurt. Their pilot liked Aela more than the old man. At least that's what she figured, if she was observing Aela was clearly the most fun. She felt at home making plans on how to hit a place up. Though the plan didn't sit well with her either. Far too indirect.

She gave a audible hum of agreement with Savis as he interjected on the idea and presented two options. She cocked her head back with a smirk at the question he asked. A wise-ass expression of 'you know better' was translated by Aela's face. "Well you know my answer..." She teased, sitting with a hand holding up her head as her elbow lean on the arm rest before continuing. "I think we shouldn't be afraid to go in. But seeing as how there's only a few of us ready to go out guns blazing.." She gave a gun gesture with her free hand pointed to the destination screen before lowering it back to the arm rest.

"It's always easier to get in smooth you see. But after a little while it will be time to go in rough." She winked at the last part. Her smile growing as she sat back to read their responses.

“Nice to meet you Mdazi,” Abigail responded cheerfully. “Say, if you're the doctor, did all my paperwork come through okay? The captain wasn't aware of my condition when I first met him.” She was going to say more but the only remaining crew member had just popped out of his room and Abigail turned to look over at him and wave him down. “Hold on,” she mumbled under her breath, “let's find out a little more about our crew.”

“Hey, hey mister!” Abigail called out to Finn. “I’m Abi, who are you?”

Seeing 'Abi' waving at him Finn walked over to his two new crew mates; the engineer and the Havvika doctor, he hoped to get along with these people and avoid another awkward journey with a silent crew. "Hiya Abi, I'm Finn" he said waving back and walking over to them, smiling he continued "So what do yous two think of the ship, pretty nice eh." Then realising he hadn't yet spoken to the Havvika properly he turned to them saying "Sorry love I don't think I got your name."

Victor had watched each crew member disappear to claim their rooms, turning back to seat himself at the terminal that he had previously been searching through. Not long passed before Reika re-appeared, unexpectedly being the fastest one to finish. He ignored her, letting her make her way to the cockpit and accommodate herself with the machine.

So far, she was the enigma. The Grays had given him a copy of all members personal files, each of them possessing a certain degree of detail. All except his new pilot. Her file had barely any personal information; he’d have to either dig deeper over the course of their mission or there was truly nothing of note about her except the possession of experience in flying ships similar to their current one. Victor was determined to run as tight of a crew as possible due to his previous mistake aboard his former flagship resonating deeply within him, refusing to let another “unchecked” member have their way with his plans. That’d have to wait however; they were already behind his schedule and had to use the advantage of free access in Gray secured territory to get a headstart.

Victor launched himself to his feet, finished fidgeting with the terminal, and marched his way towards the cockpit where Reika was getting accustomed with the controls. “I’m glad you’re not snoozing, Saigyo, unlike the others. Get us ready for takeoff, -now-” he accentuated the urgency. “Once we’re in the air, set our route towards Mars, the station closest to the royal palace. Let me deal with clearance once we’re close enough to worry about it.”
Without wasting anymore time, Victor turned to fumble and frustratedly slap around the intercoms and eventually figuring out it’s workings. The speakers positioned around the ship let out heavy metallic thuds before streaming Victors barking voice to the members that were still idling about: “We’re behind schedule and preparing for takeoff. You’ll be getting a run down for our first course of action once we’re off planet. I hope you’ve settled in.” before promptly shutting off the comms from his end.

Reika had been pressing various buttons on the console of the ship she was going to be piloting as the rest of the crew talked amongst themselves First thing she noticed was how beautiful it was. Sleek, high-tech, compact and easy on the eyes, all the pertinent information was there ready to be digested with easy to notice symbols that correlated with important features. When she touched the wheel that resembled two parenthesis connected by a circle, she felt the electricity of excitement stand her hairs on end. There was the window infront of her that for now only showed the boring port on Venus, but soon would show the inky blackness of space. All around her were various monitors that showed the outside of the ship, with radars and detection devices that divulged the Wight's surroundings to her.

Ugh! Reika hadn't been able to pilot a ship in too damn long. Being taxi'd around because she didn't have a ship to pilot was the worst. It was like she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, or shaking the cobwebs from her brain. There were sundry buttons of all kinds all around her, things that might overwhelm the unexperienced but for Reika it was the most comprehensive user interface she'd ever seen.

The pilot's chair was large, adjustable and had four straps that created an X across her chest. She could move it up, down, forward and backwards slightly to get into the most comfortable position possible. It was bolted hard to the floor so she could pilot upside down if she wanted too.

Victor then appeared in what looked like full command mode. 'Now', he demanded. Reika, excited, smiled wide. "Aye-aye!" She gave a exaggerated, slacking salute as he vanished from her view. She then turned back to the Wight's interface. The thrusters began to warm and the entire Wight began to give an awesome whistle. A flick of a switch retracted the boarding ramp into the body of the ship. The reactor began supplying power to the engines, weapons, and shields. Reika giggled to herself when she saw the interface come to life.

Victor's voice came over the radio, they were behind schedule and needed to move.

She began to taxi the ship out of the port and to the runway. At about 10 miles per hour it was slow moving, and Reika just wanted to sail this baby in space. The way was clear infront of her as they were one of the only crafts confirmed to to take-off around this time thanks to the Gray's.

Eventually there was nothing but the dome above them and the large steel runway. The runway lead into a large, triple layered airlock. The first door-portal opened around them, all the parts receding from the center of the door. It took about 30 seconds for the door to open. The Wight hummed past the first airlock, and for 30 seconds the door closed behind them.

"Come on, come on!" Reika rapidly and impatiantly tapped her foot, biting her lower lip. One and a half minutes later, the final airlock door began to open into the crushing atmosphere of Venus. Before her stretched the vast green emptiness of pure poison and the remainder of the runway that was exposed to the cruel elements outside the safe dome of Aphrodite.

She flicked on the intercom and her voice filled the ship.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Wight, this is your pilot speaking. We're about to take off, so I'm gonna activate the artificial gravity, but I'd recommend taking a seat anyway unless you wanna fall flat on your ass or worse." She paused, looking at the atmosphere, and turned a lever to activated the artificial gravity. Immediately everyone could feel themselves get about twice as heavy because of the compounded gravity of the ship and Venus. Still moveable, but it was a little uncomfortable to have 2 G's pressing down.

"Okay, here comes the countdown," she spoke into the intercom again. "Five...four...three-two-one!" The Wight sped up quickly as the now warmed up thrusters kicked on, the pilot having lost her patience. Reika felt herself get pushed back into her seat as it picked up velocity. The ship was zooming down the runway. She pulled up, and the G's pulled harder. One would hope everyone was strapped in or else they'd be hard pressed into the corner of some room.

The wheels retracted into the ship, causing the drag to reduce. They were now officially in the air! Soon the floating city of Aphrodite was well behind them, and anyone watching from the port would see them be submerged in green fog.

"Okay, okay, we're up! Fucking nice!" She said to herself, though the intercom was still on. Hearing her own voice echo throughout the ship, Reika realized her mistake. "Oops," her voice rang throughout the ship one last time as she turned off her intercom. Quickly putting the mishap behind her Reika glared, grinning, at Venus's sky, vessel ascending towards the currently unseen heavens above.

Regardless of any crew comments, conversations or criticisms that happened in the meantime, the Wight would be in space in about ten minutes.

“Finn, probably the most mysterious member of the group,” Abigail responded, eyeing the older man with curiosity. “You're right about the ship, it's certainly someth-” her train of thought was immediately cut off by a series of loud metallic thuds. Now, Abigail was an engineer. She was more than accustomed to hearing machinery being broken. So to see such a powerful look of awestruck confusion pass across her features may, to the uninitiated, have caused a flicker of concern. She gently raised an index finger, mouth agape, and listened intently as Victor's terse grunting echoed through the corridors.

“We’re behind schedule and preparing for takeoff. You’ll be getting a run down for our first course of action once we’re off planet. I hope you’ve settled in.”

There was a brief pause. “...Well I'll be damned,” murmured Abigail in quiet contemplation. “I didn't think he'd manage to figure it out on his own.” Taking a brief moment to savour the occasion, Abigail nonchalantly added “Our captain is technologically challenged, but he's the best damn tactician to ever sail the stars. We best do as he says,” she clapped her hands together and started to make her way up the ladder. “Plenty of time to chat later, eh?”

“...Eh?” The entire ship whirred into life. Abigail had just made it up the ladder into the upper floor when the artificial gravity kicked in. She looked perplexed by the whole ordeal until Reika's dulcet tones reverberated through the chamber.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Wight, this is your pilot speaking. We're about to take off, so I'm gonna activate the artificial gravity, but I'd recommend taking a seat anyway unless you wanna fall flat on your ass or worse."

“The fuck she wouldn't,” Abigail grunted as she immediately slid back down the ladder. “Get into a room it'll hurt less-” she blurted, grabbing her holopad and punching in a few codes. The touchpads for the doors to all of the dorms suddenly went green - she must have overrode the locking mechanism so that they'd open upon approach. In doing so, however, Abigail wasted precious seconds that could have gone to good use. Before she had the chance to get through her own doorway, Reika took off, and Abigail took off with her.

It was not a graceful tumble. She went rolling down the relatively short gangway and slammed into the far wall with an uncomfortable sounding bang whilst the din of the thrusters muffled her noises. Immediately, Abigail struggled to her hands and knees and pressed a black handkerchief to her face whilst her shoulders shook in a few spasms. As the noise level settled and the rest of the crew emerged, they could possibly hear Abigail releasing a series of wet, hacking coughs. The fit passed quite uneventfully as she brought herself to her feet and wiped at her mouth with the now damp cloth. She took a deep breath. She stretched until she felt a crack. Gingerly, she rubbed her shoulder. “Well that was exciting,” she commented with such forced cheerfulness that the icy undertones should have turned her lips blue. Abigail seemed to visibly tense, jaw clenching, fists tightening as another deep breath hissed through her nostrils like a jet of steam. That handkerchief squelched under the pressure as a thin red ribbon trickled between her fingers, splashing a drop or two of blood onto the steel tiles - hardly noticeable, unless one was particularly observant or looking for it. She seemed to be doing her damnedest to calm down.

But it wasn't working. Abigail made a beeline for the ladder and climbed it two rungs at a time.

No sooner than Finn had taken in what Reika had said, he felt the whole ship beginning to move. Knowing from experience the perils of not being strapped down for take off Finn bolted to his room the touchpad turning green and the door opening automatically as he approached, with no time to get seated Finn hastily flipped a switch on the side of each of his boots activating their magnetism and fixing him to the floor. He was lucky that the boots came halfway up his calf otherwise his ankles would have been dislocated by the sudden jerk, he felt himself leaning back at an increasingly alarming angle and his boots slowly being edged backwards sliding him across the room… until it was finally over. Finn stumbled out of his room his back aching and his legs sore, he was sure that one day he would injure himself during takeoff just from the force alone. The thought of injury suddenly becoming dread reality as he looked down the corridor and saw Abigail crumpled against the far wall of the corridor, his concern quickly turning to relief as he saw her get up and race towards the ladder. Letting out a sigh of relief Finn reached for his pipe which he saw had lost its tobacco during takeoff which was now a black smudge on his wall, refilling his pipe carefully and relighting it Finn deactivated his boots and sat down on his bed. Tuning into the exterior cameras and sensors Finn sucked on his pipe and watched the vast expanse of space rush by, a rare calming experience though he knew it couldn't last long.

Getting up and finishing the last of the tobacco in his pipe Finn calmly walked out of his room and up towards the ladder noticing with concern a drop of blood on the rungs, moving faster now Finn was about to enter the briefing room when he heard voices coming from the door. Deciding to keep away from any conflict which may arise he sat himself down, this was the security room making it almost perfect for his purposes. Keeping his eye tuned into the exterior he set up the hologram he had downloaded earlier to appear in miniature form, next to the console he was using, information still appearing on the map as he worked. Looking at their destination Finn saw that they were taking a fairly routine journey… too routine, people would be keeping an eye out for activity on anything connected to mars considering recent events, even with a fairly incognito ship they ran the risk of being picked out by inspections by people who's allegiance didn't necessarily lie with the Grays, but if he led them too far off the beaten path they risked walking their little ship into pirates territory. He set out a slightly longer route for the pilot which would take them to the same station but in a way which would let them avoid any attention until they reached mars where they would be safe. Sending the route to the pilot Finn leaned back in his chair and closed his good eye smiling as he watched the stars pass by once more.

“Captain,” Abigail snapped tersely as the doors split open to the briefing room. “Did you mean for the pilot to take off so suddenly? Half of us were nowhere near anything stable.” Her voice lacked all of the cheeriness that it had previously possessed. In her left hand was a bloodsoaked handkerchief, trails of red seeping down her fingertips as her grip whitened her knuckles and shook her hand at the wrist. She had meant to storm up to the cockpit itself but the sight of Victor cowed her into place. Her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment whilst her mind replayed the last two minutes over and over, and all of this shame and anger was being directed into a frosty glare at the door on the far end of the room. Rather notably, it meant that she could not - would not - meet Victor’s gaze.

Victor looked at the sight of the beyond frustrated Abigail, seemingly not expecting a complaint. “Yes, as I said over the comms we are behind schedule and I’d like to take off before wasting anymore time.” he paused, hoping her question was literal, before deciding to add: “If you have any complaints we can discuss them the next time we’re winding down, not now.”

“None with you,” Abigail sighed again, peering down at her cloth before idly stuffing it into her pocket. “I just think it’s pretty counter-productive of her to take off so suddenly, when we’ve got two old men and a chronically ill person on board. Whilst it’s always fun to feel my throat pop like a water balloon, I’d be mighty worried if our glorious leader broke a hip,” Abigail shot the captain a mischievous grin. Her mood had lifted and she was in good spirits once more - and she let Victor know by taking a jab at him.

Victor smiled, but otherwise ignored her teasing comment. “Don’t forget to discuss your condition with the doctor, will you?”

“Doesn’t she already have my file?” Abigail responded, easing down into one of the chairs as she pulled out the earpiece she was working on earlier and plugged it into one of the consoles.

“She might, she might not, I wasn’t in charge with supplying the rest of the crew with information. If she has she did it on her own dime and time.” he confirmed, remaining stood at the head of the briefing table.

“Alright...but after we get the first clue. Once things have ‘wound down’.” Abigail wasn’t too bothered with where Victor was standing, as she was too busy fiddling with the screen on the console now. “Looks scary but it’s not that urgent. Besides, it comes with a whole variety of benefits, like...uhm. Like being able to take a nap by saying you need a transfusion. Or being very, very good at playing dead.” She was frowning at the console now with confusion. “Hey, did you hit anything to do with the computers when you attacked that intercom?”

“No, but thanks for reminding me to ask you to please have those fixed, will you? I’ll be using them a lot.”

“None of them are broken - you just don't know how to use 'em…” Abigail mused. She was only half-heartedly adding to the conversation because her attention was focused entirely on whatever she had picked up on. “Well, it looks like a certain “Neslo Nnif” has just dumped a substantial amount of data from a private piece of tech into the system and hooked himself up to all the security cameras and sensors. I'm gonna go ask him what he's up to - don't touch this console, I'm working on something with it.” Abigail pushed herself out of the chair and scurried off to the security room, leaving Victor to his own devices.

”Well, you know what? The cops can’t find us if we’re constantly moving. Speaking of, we need to do that. So stand up and let’s get moving, alright?” Jin made clockwise circles with his right hand, gesturing for them to get “up, up.” ”Now. I left my ship, and I see two things. My shuttle and your ship. My shuttle doesn’t have a LightDrive so we’re taking your ship. Am I right?

“Finn, what're you-ooooh.” Abigail had never been in the security room as of yet, and the myriad of screens, projectors and buttons in such a cramped space had immediately distracted her from her original intentions. Snapping out of it, she continued “what're you downloading into the ship's system? I don't mind people uploading stuff into their own personal terminals but you've let yourself into all the security cameras and sensors - not to mention there's a huge file that's been put in the system. I'm not deliberately being nosy, it's just part of the job to make sure we don't get a virus or get hacked…”

Slightly startled by Abigail’s sudden appearance Finn blinked and severed his connection to the outer cameras, “Oh sorry bout that Abi, I should've said before. I only connected m’self to the outer cameras so I could ‘see’ what was going on outside the ship.” He said punctuating his words by tapping his right eyelid twice causing his eye to temporarily reveal the camera that existed instead of an actual eye. “As for your mystery file” he grabbed the hologram from behind him and gestured for Abigail to sit next to him and take a look.

“Oh right, of course, you’re the navigator,” Abigail responded, tapping her forehead with the base of her palm. “Yeah, I only ever get half the story when I look at things through the system - without, y’know, actively prying into other people’s business. I wonder if Mdazi’s capable of repairing cybernetics, then - God knows I can’t do it. Too small, y’know?” She peered at Finn’s robotic eye with a look of intrigue but, upon realising that she was staring, she quickly and politely averted her gaze. When Finn pulled out the hologram Abigail murmured an awestruck “Je-sus Christ...”, peering at the star-map with childlike wonderment. She sat down and squinted at it. “Where are we, then, in all of this?”

Finn smiled as he saw Abigail’s face, it was the same one which always lit up people's faces when they saw a star-map for the first time. Using his fingers to zoom the map in he pointed at a small star at the edge of the projection “We are here” he said, the area he had just pointed out changing to a yellow colour in order to stand out. “Though some people have tried to spread out beyond our star the majority of us are all on this little spec.” Finn zoomed the map in further so that it now only included sol and a handful of nearby systems, this revealed Finn's extensive notes on the area with little lines and bubbles of various colours, representing territory and trade routes, materialising alongside Finn's messy handwriting making the map look almost kaleidoscopic.

“My god, we're so tiny against all this…” Abigail's eyes flickered excitedly over the map. “This is my first time in space, you know. Well. Not first time ever, I sat in the hull of a shipment freight as we moved house, but this is my first proper time on a spaceship.” Abigail’s expression turned pensive, her voice went quiet. “It's actually pretty scary. I've been practicing for decades now, my work’s significantly better than people my age - and that's not even me bragging, there's statistics and everything behind it - but you muck up just once and half the ship gets sucked out into space.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That said, the chances of it actually happening are minimal - engineers make ships to be idiot-proof from top to bottom.”

“Ha-ha, I guess we're opposites then. I've only properly been on a planet twice and I still don't know a thing about engineering. Anyhow I'm sure you'll do a fine job; I've been in ships which try to tear themselves to pieces with engineers which don't know a nut from a bolt, so with a nice ship like this and an engineer like you we’ll be doing more than fine.” Finn smiled warmly and clapped Abigail on the shoulder, then seeing the ship rapidly approaching its destination on the console beside him decided to wrap up. “You should take a proper look at the stars if you haven't already, I grew up in them and I still don't get tired of the view… Actually remind me to show you my helmet when we take off again.” That said he slowly got up and started shutting off the console he was using.

“You’ve got your own suit? Damn,” Abigail looked impressed. She also noticed how swiftly the ship was approaching their destination and stood up. “I’m hoping once I get a breather tonight, I’ll call my mum and take a look at the stars properly. Until then, there’s work to be done. Thanks for clearing things up, Finn - I’ll see you around.” Abigail stood up and, with the increasingly-familiar restlessness that seems to follow Abigail’s every movement, she skipped out of the room and down the corridor.

---

“I agree with the pilot, we might as well take off now. Any way what is the point of worrying about the past? What's done is done.” With that comment Sevro started walking towards the ship's ramp and stopped as he reached the woman who had been lecturing him. “This isn't the first time the police have come after me, nor will it be the last. I know what I'm doing.” With that Sevro turned to the man next to her and gestured at the ship. “Permission to come aboard captain?”

@Rai@Verticus@Claghorn Tull

---

---

Niki was in full Multitasking mode watching Aella, listening to Paladin, Savis, local space, and the beautiful moon far below her. It was both an internal function and inherent in her mental makeup to be able to do so and why she was top of the line in her function as a pilot even if she lacked practical experience.

It was because of this latter issue that she was always performing tactical drills and even competing with other pilots on the Sol-Net server where she was one of the top competitors going by the Handle Bluemoondreamer. It was in Systems of Fire where she was considered one of the Goddess of that game with a score only exceeded by HarrowedSoul, StainlessHawk, TyrantofStars, and Willowbranchdancer all of them seasoned competitors and pilots of ships that even now move in the darkness between the planets. It was a competitive game that had been designed by a former War college Professor for use by that school in the training of naval personnel in practical ship’s tactics and in its present 17.15 issue considered as more than reality.

Her ship was personally designed and tested by herself and had never been destroyed in any engagement lending her the keening Queen of the Escape clause which meant she was only one of 42 such craft in the system wide game to be able to claim that state. Named the Sky of Terra Nikki’s ship was like the Carrion a Stealth ship and one which used special weapons mostly centered around the use of area interdiction mines which were stealthed Torpedos that lay in wait in hidden positions listening to space around them till the electronic or weapons signature of target ships caused them to go active and attack. Her defensive systems were self designed and proven in the engineering simm and included modified sandcasters to ablate energy weapons with a cloud of reflective crystals that either dispersed the effects or required burning through for the weapons to strike; she called them Teuthida shields in honor of the Squids ink clouds.

She smiled as she remembered her last Sortie in SOF and how her Sand casters had been used to destroy a squadron of fighters which she’d drawn into the shadow of Titan at low orbit. The small and deadly craft had been at full burn so when they struck the silicate cloud trying to cut the angle of attack to intercept the Sky had been holed so thoroughly they lost half of her adversaries experienced pilots setting their user back nearly 1 million credits he’d paid unit developers and caused him to issue a bounty on her in game.

Slipping back into actual space Nikki checked her various monitoring sub routines to make sure they had not missed any tidbits of information between Aella, Savis, or Paladin; then she did the same for her sensor sweeps and overlays.

It was so exciting not being alone aboard her ship but in some ways Nikki couldn’t shake the old fish and friends quote wondering when they would all be gone.

@Perpenheimer

---

The loud one was speaking again, drowning out the ambiance from the spaceport and cutting through the sound of the corvette's engines warming up. Cutting through her head too jeeee-sus; indoor voices, maybe? Luna let her head roll back, listening with half an ear as he rattled on, before flinching as her dilated eyes caught the artificial lighting of the dock full-on.

A few emphatic blinks later and her vision cleared to the pilot still talking, which she took as an opportunity to give him a lazy once-over. A mess, and nearly as loud as he was. Who the hell wore a neon tie, of all things, anyway? Let alone in that getup, even on Saturn he stuck out. Here's to his ability to fly a ship being keener than his fashion sense. Hopefully he was just colorblind, though she wans't exactly reassured either way.

Finally he finished, Killchain or whatever, and Luna shouldered her bag to step around Sevro and Jin. "Alright blondie, you want guns, I can do guns," a ghost of a smile played across her lips as she walked past Killchain, "and better."

---

Victor had seated himself in the cockpit along with Reika, keeping mostly quiet as he sat back with one leg folded over the other. Not only had he felt too uncomfortable to initiate “small talk” but the journey was a lot shorter than he expected.

As their craft approached the orbit of mars, a signal came through requesting the ship to identify itself and their intentions. Victor leaned forward, activating The Wights communications and speaking in a clear tone: “This is Victor Strade, tactical officer of The Wight, serial number C-9675. Requesting permission to land.” as Victor waited for his credentials to be confirmed, he turned his channel to speak to the rest of the ship: “Crew, we’ll soon be landing. Please ensure that you’ve fastened your seatbelts, and that all luggage and our ship’s mechanic have been stowed away safely” he smirked to himself, finding himself the epitome of comedy.

Leaning back into his chair he spoke, this time to Reika, “Get ready to bring us in once we’ve got the confirmation, will you?” before going back to patiently waiting. Not much time passed before his ships external comms lit up, giving them the requested landing privileges.

A while back, the Wight had penetrated the green endless fog of Venus and had fallen or risen (depending on how you look at it) into the inky blackness of space. Despite their enormous speed, the stars always stayed in the same position. Bright, blinking eyes looking passively at the progress of man. Reika didn't really think too much about the philosophical meaning of stars, but rather that they were pretty and mind-bogglingly far away. If she thought about it too hard, it made her hairs stand on end like she was being creeped out, only in a good away. Reika loved space.

Her plotted course changed to a longer route thanks to the navigator. She assumed that old guy must have had some reason for it, other than just being a bad navigator. Weird.

The captain, Vick (she had taken to calling him Vick in her mind), sat down in the cockpit but didn't say anything. She glanced over at him expectantly every once in a while. She made a litte noise through her teeth using her tongue that could be taken for a gesture of being slightly amused. I mean, she thought, he just sits down right next to me in the room and doesn't say anything. Reika supposed she could have tried small talk, but she also wanted to see if he would try too first, and what that would look like. He didn't.

An identification prompt came through to them as the Somewhat Red Planet came into view. Mars! Beautiful. She drummed the wheel with her fingers as he spoke. Eventually he addressed the crew through the intercom.

“Crew, we’ll soon be landing. Please ensure that you’ve fastened your seatbelts, and that all luggage and our ship’s mechanic have been stowed away safely," He said, apparently pleased with himself. Well, Reika didn't want to be a suck-up, but she thought it was funny- especially since it a was a joke towards the mechanic. So, she poorly stifled a laugh.

He told her to bring them in when the confirmation came. She nodded in agreement and did so. Mars grew staggeringly big in the viewport and the monitors. Eventually in filled the entire view, and they were only looking at a small portion. She'd never been to Mars. Wow. Childlike giddiness once more pumped into her system as the promises of a new place filled her mind. This was a job? She was getting paid for this? What more could anyone ask for?

Reika's voice once again crackled over the intercom. "Okay, okay, okay, I hope you're strapped in because we're entering the atmosphere. Of Mars, it's going to be", she paused very briefly, looking for the best words. "Uh, expect turbulence." The intercom clicked off again, Reika making sure of it this time.

Eventually, a few warning beeps started to go off as they pushed through the atmosphere. She glanced over at Vick. "You ready?" She asked him, smiling. This part was always fun. Raw, concentrated heat began to appear on the front of the ship. Friction created a beautiful light display, making the Wight look like a comet streaking through the air. She entire ship began to shake, loose articles would fall off shelves and it would become difficult to maintain balance. Luckily Reika was in the most secure seat in the ship. The vast, green plains that surrounded cities of Mars came into more detail through the hectic light show. The Wight glowed brighter and brighter, until suddenly, it stopped. They were in atmo; the Wight had stopped shaking and glowing and everything was once again calm. Reika took in a shuddered, excited breath.

The nav stuff pointed her in the right direction. The ship glided effortlessly over the green grass of Mars. Though she trying her best not to show it, Reika was freaking out on the inside. She'd never seen this much grass before. Just sitting here, out in the open, exposed to the horrific poisonous gases on the outside. Of course, she knew that wasn't true, but her heart was pounding nonetheless. She'd never been outside before. There was always a dome, a building, or the hull of a ship separating her from the world outside.

A steel landing pad came into view- it was clean and unrusted, there were a few people standing off to the side just casually talking to each other. In the open. Nothing bu the vastness of the blue sky above, and that was just an illusion. They stood beneath the vastness of the universe, and they talked about sports.

"We're l-landing." She said to Victor, coughing to cover up her stammer. She was still excited, don't get her wrong, but she was very afraid of walking outside without a suit. The Wight's humming halted as they gingerly landed on the platform.

Reika spoke into the intercom. "Okay, time...time to get off." She nervously laughed and turned off the communcations device once again. She leaned back, unbuckled the complicated seatbelt, and didn't get up. She sat there, outside at the blue sky, the grass, the people talking about sports, and didn't move. She was just a little nervous.

Aela carefully observed the faces and names of the various men and women that came up on the screen. Glow reflecting off her face after rising from her seat and stepping several feet closer. The whites of her eyes and smirk glistened from the screen and the soft interior lights. "I think I know that one." She pointed to a particular woman.

@Verticus@RumikoOhara@Perpenheimer

"This bitch is crazy." Aela blurted out turning her gaze briefly to look at her crew. "Zero One." She started. "They're a group of A.I. sympathizers who roll with cybernetic enhancements AND roll with AI bots who are pretty advanced. Sometimes you can't tell the difference." She almost seemed to giggle at the end of that sentence as if recalling something in particular.

She noticed the ship moving and wondered what the their own robot girl was thinking. Could she see herself with them? Not likely Aela thought. She's too luxurious for the Martian low brows. "Trinity is her name. She's also a top player in virtual reality shooters. Not better than me but.." She felt herself trailing off and began to scratch her head, feeling a slight itch. "Anyways that's my two cents. I'm going to shower." She said with closed eyes and narrowed brows. She turned to walk with crossed arms and turned before exiting entirely. "If she answers link the voice call to my room! I can multitask..." She walked off with a shout and a whisper and made her bare footed trek to her room to start the shower. It was her favorite part of this ship.