[IC] Aurora Dreams: A Firefly Story [M]

[Nope]

Michelangelo sat in the cockpit, his guitar leaned against the bulkhead nearby. The pilot's fingers hovered near the ships controls, his eyes carefully watching the sensor displays. He recalled the words of his Abuela about pirates. "Once you think the last pirate is gone, another shows up."

Having been on both sides of a raid he knows the truth of those words. And so while the Captain and Sutton dealt with the newcomer, Mikey watched for the scavengers coming along to pick the bones clean.

Frankie finished the bar, licking the last of the melted coating off her fingers. She never was one much for cooking. It had not ever been a skill that she needed. Her mother cooked at home, her school provided meals, and once she was alone, in her own derelict apartment, she had not had access to a working stove.
She ate when she could, or whatever was closest when she was hungry. More often than not, it was some sort of sweetened cheap food that kept her just on the other side of starving and made her a little more plump than she cared to be.
She drew her wet, sticky fingers down the front of her shirt and turned a corner toward the cockpit.

She didn't feel in the mood to be anxious about her life decisions. In fact, it might be anxiety itself that was chasing her mood.
Or maybe she was adjusting.
Perhaps this is why everyone is so miserable. she thought. Perhaps she was only beginning to fit in.

Frankie rubbed again at the sore place on her head, trying to ignore the throbbing that had set in.
She stepped into the cockpit to see the young man's attention on the display. She cleared her throat.

"Hey, so do I need a uniform or something for this crime? Or...

Michelangelo spun, a hand darting under his console before the words and the person standing there registered. He pulled his hand back and sighed. "Jesus, give a guy some warning..."

Glancing back at the displays he noted that the Aurora was swiftly moving away from what remained of the ship she had moved to help. "Wha- Uniforms?" Mikey's eyebrows drew down as he was thinking. "Eh, remind me what your part's supposed to be?"


She stared blankly while the pilot startled. She caught his hand move out of the corner of her eye. She tensed but relaxed soon after when he addressed her.
She scratched the back of her neck. She thought she had given him warning. Did he want her knock? She'd cleared her throat. It wasn't her fault she didn't stomp around like some angry rhinoceros like the rest of the miserable sacks of angst on this ship. "I'll knock next time." She muttered.

When he asked about her role in the heist, Frankie narrowed her eyes tightly and looked up toward the ceiling, thinking. "Some sort of ....tech? I just got a crash course in ships. So...I'm sure that has something to do with it.

“That's right,” Mikey said with a nod. “You're our second tech. Uhhh…”

The pilot leaned back as he thought, swiveling back and forth as he dove through his memories. “Coveralls would probably work best; Don't want grease on your uniform after all…” He added teasingly. “Jun should have some fairly clean purple ones.”

Michelangelo frowned studying the woman before him. Even as he did he realized two things, so asked. “How's your sewing?”

Frankie shrugged. "If flesh and fabric are anything alike, I'll manage."

From the corner of her eye she noted a guitar. "You play?" She asked, motioning to the instrument. "

“You'll likely need to take in the coveralls a bit. And we'll need to find the right patches for both you and Junk.” Michelangelo explained.

An eyebrow quirked, and a charming smile appeared on his face as she asked about his guitar. “As often as I can.” He answered. “Why do you ask?”

"Oh, I picked up some piano from my father." She waved away the comment. "If we survive this thing and find one, we could start the lamest band ever."
She smiled.

"I'll keep an eye out for one." Mikey said with a smile. "Better go talk to Jun about those coveralls." He added after a moment, "Sooner you have it, sooner you can hem it."


"Right." Frankie gave a nod, a wave, and ducked out of the room.
She felt better some, as she walked down the hall, she had had a positive connection with someone on the ship. That was three she could assume at least tolerated her presence. The Doc, the Pilot, and the Mechanic.
That was more than usually cared to be around her. She wondered why. She wasn't threatening, or rude. Or ugly....she wasnt ugly, right?
Why do people feel so uncomfortable around ugly people anyway? Ugly doesn't necessarily mean awful or evil. What is ugly? How do you judge it? Personal preference, probably. Or social? Both.
"In not ugly." She said aloud, brushing the back of her neck with her hand. "I'm...awkward."

She walked past the galley, saw everyone still in the room, but preparing to depart, and decided to wait until Junk was alone again before asking about the coveralls.
Frankie had done enough to embarrass herself in front of all those people for one day.

[Griff]

Anika frowned at the new passenger’s posturing. Only an idiot would threaten someone as obviously armed as Sutton. Her eyes narrowed and followed the passenger as she left the room.

She was shaken out of her stare by Sutton. Chuckling, she said, “I suppose I could give it a try. My brother always said I should stick to fixing people. Unlike clothes, people tend to scream at you when you’re doing something wrong.”

“I’ve never complained about your patch jobs doc. Sure they hurt like hell but you got a clean stitch.” Cori said, propping her good leg up on a bench gesturing to the pants she was wearing which were rolled up a couple of cuffs. Cori was tall for a woman but the soldier she had taken the suit from had been over six feet. Lucky for her the soldier carried his height in his legs so only the pants were too big and the coat fit. “Just need the hem taken up a couple inches.”

Anika frowned in thought. “Okay, so, I’ll pin it here…” she trailed off, rummaging through her pockets for various stickin’ needles. Sliding various sized sharp bits into the pant leg, she looked up, “I guess we can get started, here’s to hoping you don’t regret it.”

When repositioned from her comfortable corner, Fluke sat down next to Anika and Cori. Still biting on the last bits of apple, she cold-stared at the bulkhead King and Jade left through. “Odd place to pick up hitchhikers.” She shifted down the bench, careful not to get in Anika’s way. “I don’t like her.” Fluke was, obviously, more talking to Sutton than anyone else. She did seem less tense in Anika’s presence.

Anika looked up, grunting in agreement. She may have been forcing her way into the conversation, but she wanted her opinion known. A pin slipped out of place. She hastily corrected it. Moving the needle she had held between her teeth to the side, she said, muffled, “Many things are suspicious. Don’t trust anyone who can move metal with their mind.” Frowning, she turned her head slightly, “That reminds me, Jun, are you alright?”

Junk just gave a small nod, even as she hugged her knees up to her. Her gaze was fixed upon the newcomer as she left the galley, her poker face up so she didn’t really show off anything of how she felt about the person. However, with those that had been on the ship with Junk probably already understood how she was really feeling.

Looking down at Anika and her pants Cori was a little surprised to see a hypodermic needle sticking out of the cuff of her pants. Well Anika was a doctor not a seamstress and beggars can't be choosers. So long as she didn't get stuck with them. She glanced over to Fluke, “I'm not exactly thrilled about it either but King is in one of his hero moods.” Cori said, “Hey Fluke you mind lifting up the cushion you are sitting on and giving me the bottle in there?” Cori had liquor and pills stashed all over the ship. Mostly she didn't care who knew where they were unless someone drank the last of it without replacing it.

With neither question nor delay, Fluke handed Cori the bottle. Her gaze on the bulkhead finally broke. “He does that often, doesn’t he?” She said lightheartedly.

“Yeah, he does a bit too often for my liking.” Cori said, taking a drink straight from the bottle. King was one of the good ones, she had to admit that. Even when they were kids he was always helping others out. Sometimes she wondered how he had come from the Core Worlds, he didn't quite fit in. Her on the other hand she had been born into the life of privilege and enjoyed it. Sometimes she wondered herself why she had given it up. What's that old saying about getting a taste of the other side? She couldn't stand all the hypocrisy anymore. “I have to admit his heroism has pulled my ass out of the fire a few times. I know I would have let my dumb ass sit in jail after some of the crap I've pulled.”

Despite Fluke initially disliking King, she could empathize with Cori. In their years for the independence, men like that were exactly what they inspired to be. It was unfortunate that most of the browncoats weren’t really the brightest bunch, nor very empathic. And those who were quickly fell to shellshock or worse.

Anika grinned, proud of her work. “It’s all pinned up. Now, strip!” She paused, and cringed, “Please? Oh and, I’d move your leg slowly.” She hadn’t encountered anything new in the longest time, which was both exciting and pathetic. “How do you both know each other, again? I don’t believe I ever asked about the specifics of your relationship.”

Sitting down Cori found a seat next to Jun and set the bottle on the table before the mechanic. She then reached down and started unbuckling her brace, once all the clasps were undone she dropped the brace on the table getting a loud thunk. She didn't look at Jun but figured she was giving her a dirty look for not treating the hardware better. “Relationship? Never been there, Fluke ain't my type you know I like my women a little more feminine, doc.” Cori said, kicking her boot off then lifting her hips up and shimming her pants off. Since she wasn't wearing her brace she wouldn't have the strength to stand on her leg. It took a little work but soon she was sitting there in the top half of the uniform and a pair of spandex shorts. “We served in the war together.” She said, picking the bottle back up and taking another drink then offering a drink to Jun even though she figured the mechanic would refuse.

Junk shook her head at the offered bottle, instead dragging the brace over to her. She grabbed some tools off her alliance issue tool belt and went to work upon it. Sure it was working pretty good as it was, but Junk always had a mind to improve things. She took a section of the brace apart to work upon it. New bolts and screws came from her pockets as she replaced old bits, and gave it a nice little polish with an oily rag. “Not bad… Strong.”

Anika grabbed the pants, and took the needle out from between her lips. “Ah, acquaintances then. I’m always glad to see more trustworthy people on this vessel.” She pulled out the sewing thread, much thinner and more breakable than what she was used to, and pushed the needle through the fabric. She pulled the needle up. The thread snapped. Next time, she would use less force. Cloth was less dense, and a completely different texture than human flesh. Anika enjoyed the challenge, and at her second go was able to stitch it without it breaking. She stitched all around the hem and tied it off, pleased with her work.

Fluke grinned at Cori’s answer and nodded along with the doc’s response. “Used to be the platoon’s drill sergeant.” She remembered a far less brass version of Cori, early into the battle on Du-Khang. “Corporal Sutton was our best sapper.” Fluke intercepted Cori’s drink and took a swig before setting it back down in front of the mechanic. “Until she stepped on a bloody landmine.” Rude chuckling followed, but Fluke knew the roughness of her words would only help lighten the mood. After all, by then she was lying shot-up and screaming in some trench herself.

“Nasty business, combat. Never spares the pretty ones.” Anika muttered. The second pant leg was finished slightly quicker than the first. And only a few of the pins had fallen out! She tried not to grin, but let a small smile leak through. “How is this?”

“Yeah, yeah I got myself blown up, damn mine couldn't even do the job right.But if I remember correctly you were lying in a ditch with a few extra holes in you.” Cori said, closing her eyes briefly. She joke about it now but when she had woke up in the hospital she often wondered why the mine hadn't killed her. She sure as hell didn't want to be alive, she was always in pain and Conrad was her fault. She didn't deserve to live. In the hospital she had bought a gun off of one of Badger’s men but didn't have the courage to finish the bomb’s job. Shortly after that a medic gave her the brace. When she left the hospital she was determined to drink herself to death or be killed in a fight. Least until King came along.

Fluke held up three fingers in return, reminding Cori of the alliance tanks she single-handedly stopped in their tracks to the 57th Overlander’s holdout. But eh, she didn’t like to brag. Besides, what were once heroics are now mere reminders of a bloody past and their ever-present fight against oppression.

Picking up the pants Cori wiggled into them it being easier this time without all the needles sticking out. She held onto the table and pulled herself into a standing position. Most of her weight was on her good leg and the table. Looking down she noticed that the left leg was perfect even if the stitches looked a little odd. The right leg however hung about an inch lower than the other. Cori laughed and wondered if the doctor had measured wrong or accounted for the brace. One of the reasons she always hurt was because of the brace lifting her right leg a little higher than the left. The pants looked off now but with the brace on they would be perfect.

Junk had put the brace all back together by the time the doc finished up the pants. She gave it a polish and gave the moving bits of it a dabbing of lubricant. However, the final touch she had put upon it was an Alliance sticker. Considering what their current job was she had decided it might be good to put on it, leaving it to where Cori could easily pull it off after the mission. She slide it back over to Cori, tapping on the sticker so that she’d notice. She might even notice it was placed right where Junk had bedazzled a smiley face once. She wiped her hands clean upon her Alliance engineer outfit and gave a small nod to Cori and the others.

Cori dropped back down to the seat, the strain of standing on her own being too much. She was out of breath and starting to hurt. It took a few moments for her to compose herself and a few drinks off the bottle. Then she finally noticed Jun had been tinkering with her brace. Sneaky little mechanic. Her fingers tapped on the Alliance sticker and she laughed. There were scratch marks around it where Cori had used her knife to pry off the pink sparkling gems. She had been pissed at the time but had to admit now it was pretty funny. Still to this day she wondered if Michelangelo had put Jun up to doing it but neither was talking. “I liked the smiley better.” Cori said, then put the brace and her boot back on. “Thanks,” she said, her comment geared to both Jun and Anika.

[AngelDellaNotte]

Cori stood up ignoring the pain that shot through her leg and back from standing without the brace. She took another drink from the bottle then left the room leaving the bottle behind for Fluke and whoever else wanted it. She walked through the ship to her room where she changed back into her regular clothes leaving the Alliance uniform hanging up. Next she walked to her dresser where the injection gun was lying. She picked it up thinking about taking a dose for the pain. They were on the eve of a mission though and she didn't want the drugs clouding her mind. However the pain was intense. She would need to do something before tomorrow. Setting the injection gun back down she remembered they had a companion on the ship and they were well trained in the art of massage. Perhaps she could pay Mei to help her out.

She left her room walking back to the shuttles where she knocked on Mei's door. After a moment the companion opened it and welcomed her in. There wasn't much in the shuttle but Mei had decorated with some of the things she had brought from the guild. Cori had been willing to pay for the massage but Mei refused to take any money. The massage had been amazing and Cori felt better than she had in a long time. The medication and alcohol never really took the pain away it was more like it just made her not care about it. After the massage some of the tension was gone and she truly felt better. It was nice too, as Mei had worked they had chatted and Cori opened up to Mei a bit. They didn't really talk about anything specific but it wasn't really small talk either. It just felt like they had known each other for years.

Past experience with companion's caused Cori to act on muscle memory and after the massage was over she had kissed Mei. When Mei didn't stop her or pull away kissing had turned into more and a while later they were lying in Mei's bed cuddling, drinking tea and talking some more. Cori had fallen asleep in Mei's shuttle and spent the night there.

[Ushima]

Michael King led Jade through the halls of the ship toward the guest quarters. Again I apologize for Cori. She's just doing her job and making sure everyone on board is safe. She thinks I'm a little too trusting. Too much of a nice guy. But there is one thing I'd like to know now that it's just you and me. Any of that story real?"

She slightly nodded in agreement with a grim look. "Understandable." She added. "But still I don't like being threatened just for being stranded. A dead give away when you're running away from something." Then smirked. She stopped and looked at the captain in the eye. Thinking he is far smarter then she had thought. "Well...half of it...I was...robbing it." Her face turned a little pale. "I'm a actually something you should not have on this ship to be more understandable."

Michael stopped in his tracks. Sighing he pinched the bridge of his nose. "God damn it I'm never gonna hear the end of this." If Cori found out he let a thief on board because he had to take the morale high ground she'd throw it in his face every chance she got for at least six months. Probably more. They did not need a thief on board while they were trying to pull off their heist job. "...wait a minute..." He scratched his chin. "How good are you?"

She stood there and her smile disappeared. "Between you and me?....I'm a contract hitman." She took a step back. "I take jobs that needs killing." Then raised both her hands up quickly. "No need to fret now I only take contracts that take out the baddies okay?" She felt a little nervous. "Now unlike your crew I was never in the war...was too gorram young for that." She sighs softly. "But I did steal when I was in my teens and was damn good at it too...or so I was told."

"A hitman too? Fuck." Michael sighed again and continued walking. "Lucky you missed out on the war. Some of us are vets. Cori was an Independent and I was in the Alliance, till they tried to have me killed. You'll fine no love for government here. But if you're as good as you say we might have use for you if you're looking for employment. How good are you at hacking Alliance systems?"

"I'm a contract killer not a hacker." She tilted her head and scratched the side of her head for a moment. "Maybe a thing or two about bypassing Alliance databases. But remember I'm not a pro!" She lied. She felt it was enough to inform the captain about her trade and did not need to inform anything else. She gives a soft sigh and reached for her chest and opened it looking for the money. She hid her stash from the captain and pulled out at least five hundred and handed it out to the captain. "Here's for your hospitality once again." She smirked and licked her teeth while looking at the captain from head to toe. "You got work for me?" She asked. "Who do you need dead?"

He took the money and pocketed it quickly. "I'm old school. If I want someone dead I do it myself." Michael led the hitman to an empty room. "Here's where you'll be staying. Not much but at least it isn't on fire and about to explode. You'll be limited around the ship. Call if you need anything. Food. Bathroom. That sort of thing.

"I have only one question. What's the job?" She asked while setting her things in and looking around. "So I need an escort around the ship because now you know who I am correct?" She asked again but moved around the room and touched the walls with her hand. "You don't need to worry about a thing...if I wanted you dead I would have done it in the mess hall." She smirked. "I'm kidding." She wasn't. She had ideas how to kill the two instantly with the fork and the twisted spoon.

"Oh just ripping off an Alliance research station." Michael looked at his nails as if to say the job was no big deal. "They have something that'll make life miserable for other people and someone else decided it'd be a bad idea if they finish the project." And he'd enjoy ripping off the Alliance. "That sate your curiosity?"

She stood there thinking for a moment and looked at the captain again. "Putting a thorn to the Alliance side?" She smirked. "Sounds like fun to me." She walked over to her belongings and opened the chest. "It's an odd coincidence that your gonna mess with Alliance when I was one step ahead of you." She reached inside and found a document that she found with the money. "I did plan on selling this piece of document to a certain person I know of." She waved the folded document in the air. "But with a little extra percent in my share...I could let you take it off my hands."

Michael eyed the document, eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Mind telling me what it is exactly? Before I decide if it's worth my time and money since I'm going to be paying you out of my share if it's that good." He couldn't short any of his crew to fork over their cut for this, if this turns out to be anything at all.

She let's out a soft sigh and placed the document back in the chest and closed. "Codes." She stated. Placing her elbow on the top shelf next to the chest. "Codes that can get you in and out of certain areas like the supply areas where they store food and medical items." Then she folded her arms. "It could save you time from hacking into a high security facility that could locate you in seconds." She reached for her bag and found her clothes. Picking her clean clothes she looked at the captain once more. "Or I could keep it to myself and get dropped off somewhere. Sell it to a higher bidder." She pulled a shirt out of the bag. "Its up to you." She started undressing herself.

"I'll think about it. Now it has been an interesting talk but I have to get back to captaining." Michael made his way to the door. "Make yourself comfortable. We'll be back with dinner but if you need anything you can call us on that terminal. See you later Ms. Connors." With that Michael closed the door and locked it, letting out another sigh. "Another woman on board....I need more male friends." Shaking his head, a small smile on his face at the joke, he returned to his duties.

[Q]

(Co-post by Griff, J'Von and Q. Authors are self-explanatory.)

Fluke took a swig out of the bottle of liquor. It was about half-full; Cori had drank most of it. “Say, doc…” She put on her most compassionate face, which honestly wasn’t very compassionate. “You’re from the core, right?” She paused. “Do you like it there?”

Anika hesitated. “I wasn’t born in the core, but I spent a lot of time there with my brother. I don’t know if ‘like it’ is an accurate sentiment. There was never much choice in my life, so I am greatly enjoying the freedom of being out of alliance space. I did however like being with my brother, so I’ll appreciate the time I spent with him in the core, rather than what it was.”

As she took another try at the hard liquor, Fluke remained silent. There was little to disagree with and even if there was, she knew the doc was no pushover. “What does your brother do?”

“Did.” Anika grimaced. “He was a merchant, shipping cargo around mostly. He vanished on one of his runs. Reavers, probably.” She let her eyes close for a moment. “I don’t really like to think about it much. After he was gone I packed up and started wandering, eventually found my way here.”

“Well.” Fluke took yet another sip at the mentioning of reavers. Not a small one, either. “They’re lucky to have you, doc.” The bottle was almost empty. Fluke sighed. She would have to get Cori a new one next port.

Jade was sitting on her bunk checking her things once more before looking at the terminal King had mentioned. After changing into fresh clothes and yet her stomach rumble. Either the cold breakfast was not enough or was causing something else. She gets up from her bunk and walked over to the terminal and pressed the button. She hits it several times wondering if anybody was gonna answer her. “Hello?” She spoke on the mic. “Anybody home?” She continued pushing the button until she could hear another voice. “I’m getting hungry in here... very hungry. I paid for nicety.” She sighs roughly and looked at the door. She frowned for a second and gives a quick kick.

Anika and Fluke paused their conversation at the newcomer’s outburst. Raising her eyebrows, she grabbed an apple off of the table and tossed it to Fluke, shrugging. “Shall we?”

After a long pause, a few firm knocks sounded on the door. “We got you a bloody apple. Happy?” Fluke, annoyed by Jade’s annoying requests, was back to her permanent frown. And Anika had just softened her up! The bunk door opened. A bulky figure handed Jade a green apple and a knife. The smelly marine remained leaning against the doorpost until Jade had finished, suspicious of this deep-space hitchhiker.

Anika stood in the doorway next to Fluke. The irate passenger grabbed the apple from her. “Do you need anything else? Do you have any injuries?”

Once the door opened. She stopped and looked at the person who entered. It was the girl who was eating an apple from earlier. Looking at the offer Jade only scoffed and grabbed the apple and knife. Her nostrils filled with a toxic aroma and yet familiar. “Smells like you been drinking.” She placed the apple on the bunk and twirled the knife with her hand. Slicing the apple into forces with precise and a strong cut. “I’m gonna guess the whole bar?” She asked curiously as she eats one slice. “And I'm gonna guess this is dinner?” She chewed loudly and scoffed again. “Think I was better being blown to pieces.” She looked at the knife and twirled it with her hand again. “So...who the hell are you?” But her attention to the medical doctor Anika.Whom asked her a question. She looked at her from head to toe. “Only this.” She showed her the apple. “Is this how you treat people?” She shakes her head and scoffed. “A apple? A five star dinner.”

Anika took a deep breath. “My apologies. However, I’d imagine it’s better than nothing. We can try to get you more soon.” She looked at the young woman, whose attitude was so horrible. What makes someone like this? The woman was able to move metal with her mind, it gave Anika a few guesses on how she developed those skills. None of them particularly kind. One of them much less so.

Fluke looked at the bottle in her hand behind the door. There was maybe a shot left. “Just a bit.” Quite forcefully, she slammed the bottle on Jade’s table and left it there. “Listen, girl, you better watch your tone.” Fluke ignored most of her other questions and remained stoic. Her eyes fell upon Jade’s crate; probably filled with the money she’s so kind to share. “We have an airlock, you know.”

Jade smirked at the woman and looked at the bottle. She quickly grabbed the bottle and held it close. “You know drinking is a bad habit to have.” Squeezing slightly until the glass cracked and then shattered in pieces. “You got an air lock?.” She takes a step closer. “I got two fists you know.” Her eyes dead serious as she kept her gaze on the woman. “For someone who is pretty your an ass.” She takes the knife in the other hand stabbed the table hard. Very hard. She stood close to the point she could smell the taste of alcohol on her own breath. Making her think of her own drinking days.

Anika frowned, and felt her arm go up reflexively to stop the knife from stabbing the table, but she held it back and bit her tongue.

Fluke’s frown grew colder and colder. The arrogance! She stood perplexed. Drinking was a mere vice to her, often only to celebrate the dead. Assumptive, this one. Fluke’s forehead swiftly smashed against Jade’s nose. Before long, there was some distance between them. The amazonian was unleashed! Her brawling stance was on; legs wide, arms up and her braid trailing down her shoulder, bouncing at each hop. “You ‘gonna be chill, girl?” The grin on her face told Jade that she’d never submit. “Or you ‘gonna try and cut me?”

Her head jerked back and felt a sudden pain in her nose. Her hand reached up to check it but no blood. She looked at the woman who was in a fighting stance. “Your on.” Jade smiled and licked her lips. Jade positioned herself and moved around the tall woman. “You're gonna regret this.” She takes a step forward with a hard right hook.

Anika rushed forward, only a step needed to get in front of Fluke and catch the swing. A loud thwack sounded from the impact of Jade’s fist on her hand. She held it firmly. Anika’s teeth were gritted. “Please, you’ve been on this ship for a few hours and you’re already attacking the crew members? Horrible manners.” Her eyebrows were pulled down, glaring at the newcomer.

Fluke quickly aided the doctor’s attempt at defuse. The situation was all a bit messy and it started to feel somewhat crowded in Jade’s room. All sorts of shelves came tumbling down while Anika and Fluke’s combined lady-power forced the foulmouth into a corner. When they briefly overcame Jade, Fluke pushed Anika out of the room as gently as possible. Didn’t want to hurt the good doc, of course. With her free leg she closed the door behind her, but did expose her back while doing so. It left the two femme fatales in intense close-quarters.

Jade moved back a few steps as she felt the power between the two. She observe the tall one pushed the doctor out of the room. Seeing a window opportunity she took it by rushing towards her and jumped to the side. Grabbing the armor with one hand and neck area with the other, her feet felt the wall and pushed hard against it. Shoving the woman against the opposite wall to strike at her side while remaining on her back like an animal. Her arm moved back and forth several times and her fist kept hitting the armor weak spot and the other held near the neck area. Keeping a tight grip.

Fluke’s pretty amazonian head smashed into the wall. She tried to get Jade off her back with her arms a few times, but eventually resorted to brute violence and smashed the entirety of her back body (with Jade still on it) against the opposing mirror. Bloodied glass cluttered down on the floor. “Chill it!” She shouted when she regained the upper hand and held an authoritarian finger up to intimidate Jade into submission.

Once her back hit the mirror and both her arms whipped back letting go of the woman. She felt her feet touch the ground but sharp pain in her back. She looked at the glass pieces on the ground with blood stains. Her eyes gazed back up only to see the woman's finger pointing at her face and telling her to 'Chill it.’ She stopped in confusion of what that meant. “Then back off.” She muttered keeping her fists closed.

“Fine!” Fluke’s fist re-opened the bulkhead. She straightened her jaw and brushed past Anika while pointing at Jade over her shoulder. “New patient, doc.” The room was in ruins. Sharp pieces of mirror on the floor, fallen books, broken shelves… It was a sight to behold. And that only in the brief time the door was closed! As a final symbol of her discontent, she kicked the Aurora’s interior with her prosthetic - one far less flimsy than poor Cori’s. “Blasted cutthroats!” The clank echoed throughout the ship.

Anika snorted. She had been fuming after being locked out of the room, and they expected her to treat them? They could nurse their own wounds. “I’ll be letting the captain know. In the meantime,” Anika closed and locked the door, “no one who attacks crewmembers is allowed to wander the ship unsupervised.”

[MidKnight]

Once the door shut and locked from the outside. Jade walked up to the door and gives it a hard punch leaving a small dent in the middle. Frustrated and adrenaline still kicking in her system she was breathing a little hard from the hard crush. She looked at the ground and looked at some of the broken mirror pieces and sees the blood still fresh. She groaned as she felt a slight pinch in her back. She carefully reached behind her back trying to feel for cuts. She felt some pieces of the mirror still attached to her and large shards pierced into her skin. She hissed quietly as she pulled each shard out and tossed it on the ground.

Picking up her bag on the ground she searched inside and pulled several shirts out. She reached for her previous shirt and ripped it in half. Using one as a bandage and the other half as a cover. Wrapping the shirt around her body and felt the cuts being pressured she let's out a soft sigh.

From there she kicked some of the broken glass away from her bunk and moved the shelves near the corner of the room. Finally laying on her bunk but mainly on her back to keep pressure on the cuts and minor wounds. She hissed at each pressure she felt and each one stung like a bee. She was able to relax and sighs heavily. But she kept a smile on her lips from the aftermath of beating a woman who was a couple inches taller than her. "Yup. I still got it." She placed both her hands behind the back of her head and lifted one leg over and crossed over her other leg. Her eyes closed and in minutes drifted to sleep.

[AngelDellaNotte]

[Deleted for continuity]

[Nope]

(A co-post with King, Fluke, Dr. Mehren and Frank)

Taking stock of munitions was never an exciting time for anyone. But they were going head first into trouble and that meant a possibility of combat. And combat meant a need for bullets and medical supplies. But as the captain was walking to the medical bay to take stock of everything to get a more up-to-date he soon realized something was happening. He didn’t even make it all the way to his destination. Michael was stopped outside his newest passenger’s room. “What the hell is going on?”

Fluke was flexing her muscles, still groaning and pumped-up with adrenaline. “She’s bad stuff, cap!” She gestured towards Jade’s room, shaking her head along with it. While Fluke knew she was pushing her authoritarian limits, she couldn’t help but add her own suggestion. “You’d be smart to space the jien-huo.” She pulled her finger back from King’s chest and walked towards the dining area with a slight limp. Seconds later, one of the Aurora’s ceramic plates could be heard cluttering on the floor.

Anika stood in the hallway, her arms crossed. She tonelessly reported, “We were sitting in the kitchen when Jade called over the intercom that she was hungry. We brought an apple. Jade and Fluke began to argue and I was unsuccessful in diffusing the situation. They locked me out and fought.” She allowed a bit of frustration to leak into her voice, “I think that about covers it. Oh, and Jade stabbed the table.” Anika sulked, just a tiny bit. She liked the furniture on the ship.

“That was a good table.” Michael set his datapad down. “So you guys brought her an apple when she was hungry.” Being captain, and at times a decent human being, sometimes sucked. As a leader he had to examine all sides, get all the information. “Why did Fluke start an argument?”

“Jade was unhappy with my choice of sustenance, Fluke was slightly inebriated. She told Jade to watch her tone, making the first threat that we have an airlock. Jade pulled a knife, Fluke headbutted her. I tried to intervene but was pushed out of the room.” Suddenly, the closed passenger door dented outwards with a loud bang, from Jade punching the door. Anika frowned further, “I believe my opinion on the passenger is clear. Too many holes in her story and too much property damage.”

An explosion and a scream. Frankie jerked awake, sweat beading on her forehead. Her shirt felt damp and clung to her skin. She gasped for breath, trying to still the beating of her heart. She swallowed. The commotion continued. But no longer in her mind. Now it was real, not a nightmare. Odd, she’d hardly realized she’d fallen asleep. Frankie decided to thumb through her book on psychology. There had to be more than depression for the reason she had been sleeping so often. The voices down the hall were muffled but still loud. There came a crash and a slam. Frank slipped from her bed and padded down the hall. Fluke walked away as Frank approached the Captain and the Doc. She noted the pained expressions between them and Anika’s remark. Frankie glanced between them and replied, “I mean, neither of you actually believed anything she told you right? I guarantee you there’s a corpse pile on that ship.”

Anika chuckled. “Not much of a ship left to check.”

“Well yeah. I wouldn't just leave my mess in space either, where anyone could find it. I'd get rid of it.” Frankie shook her head. “With her around, If I had anything valuable it would be up my butt or in my gut.” She colored, realizing the statement she’d just made, realizing she’d heard it before from one of Badger’s men. “Excuse me.” She mumbled, pushing past the two and turning toward the galley.

She entered to find the obvious other party to whatever had occurred, evident by the disarray of her features and clothing. “Its hard being the badass on a tuna can full of badasses, huh?” She asked. “Use that salve I gave you.”

“Very.” Fluke nodded along. She looked up to Frankie with an icepack against her head. “I hate being stuck in tuna cans.” The Aurora’s engines hummed through the walls and Fluke figured it must be coming close to the central planets by now. “Been to the Core before?” Whilst making conversation, she began to take off her combat armor’s shoulder padding. The armor itself was very well-crafted. Not as high-tech as the current Alliance standard, but it didn’t have the bulkiness of the outer planet’s designs. It was trinket from her tour-cut short as an Alliance marine and with some patches and re-works, it survived the entirety of the war. But this probably wasn’t on Frankie’s mind, it was more the smell that slowly filled the room. It resembled the stench that one smells when removing a cask from a broken arm. Suffice to say, wasn’t good.

“I have. Several times. I was a medic during the war-” As she spoke, the scent of things best forgotten reached her. She hesitated for a moment, remembered their last conversation when the stench had permeated her room, then she sucked up her tolerance and beat down the will to gag. “-and made several tours of military hospitals. You know, biological warfare is a sin against humanity.” She said, not unkindly, in regard to the smell. “You dont want to kill the enemy before you kill the enemy.”

“I ‘ear that.” Fluke’s second shoulderpad dropped on the ground. Her muscular arms were covered with battlescars; some more absurd that others. With the sleeves removed, her suit’s thermo-layer turned off and goosebumps began to cover her strong amazonian arms.

Frankie hesitated, waiting for more conversation from the woman and nodded awkwardly at her reply. “Okay then.”
She had come into the galley hoping for more food, but found herself unable to want to stomach anything due to the smell. She wondered if she could market the Fluke Diet, because just being around her made appetites evaporate. She could make millions. And do what with it?
Frankie cocked her head, she walked into the cook range and begin sorting through the provisions, putting together a light meal. Her thoughts were her own. She leaned against the counter to eat, far enough out of the smell to be able to breathe. Anything she had would mean nothing after she was dead.
So what was the point? What was the point to even living? She couldnt be with the man she wanted, or live where she wanted. She had zero chance at the life her father had wanted for her. And going home would not yield what she hoped. She had joined this ship to get home. But what was the point? Just to see him and his wife and crotch goblins all happy and crap? It would break her even further. She would never be what her father wanted. She’d never have that life…...her father’s image of a life.
Frankie frowned. Something within her budded, blossomed, and then died all at once and she no longer felt nervous about the heist.
Because she was at least doing something. She was living some life completely different from any she would have made for herself. All her decisions until now had been what her father had wanted. That was his time. Thats was his time there. Now it was her time. It was her time right here.

[AngelDellaNotte]

Michael stalked through the corridors looking for his first mate. “Where the dìyú is she?” He grumbled as he checked everywhere. For a brief moment he thought about asking Junk where she was but the mechanic seemed busy doing...whatever it was she was doing. Plus he didn’t want Junk to think she was only useful as a paging service to find people. “Galley is a busy. Medbay too. That leaves bridge, which I doubt, or cargo bay and shuttles.” With a quick turn the captain started towards the cargo hold.

Waking up Cori had an arm draped over her waist. She carefully extracted herself from the bed somehow managing to do it without the other woman. Next task was finding her clothes. Her pants, and shirt we're nicely folded on a table from where she had left them from her massage. The leg brace was also leaning against the table. Finding her undergarments were a little harder to find. Especially with the lights off since Cori didn't want to wake Mei. She found her tank top and shorts on the floor under the bed. A short while later later she was dressed and thinking about waking Mei up. Neither of them had planned last night it had just happened. Cori wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it or not.

“Cori! Yo we got shit to do!” Michael yelled as he entered the cargo bay. He was looking behind crates and under tarps. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s found her in unique places.

"Crap" Cori hissed under her breath. Michael was making her walk of shame that much worse. She flipped the outside camera on making it so she could see part of the cargo bay. She could see Micheal on the far side of the bay. If she was lucky she could creep out of the shuttle and back to her room. That was the best case scenario. What was more likely was she would be caught in the cargo bay. If she was lucky she could convince him she had passed out here. It certainly wouldn't have been the first time she had done that. While Michael had his back to the shuttle she flipped the camera off and stepped out of the shuttle. Guess that decided whether or not she was gonna wake Mei up.

An average size ball fell out of a crate and bounced near Michael’s feet. They had two hoops set up in the cargo bay to provide entertainment and excersize for the crew. This ball floated up into the air and flew across the cargo bay, striking the panel. It hit the door control and shut it. Michael turned around and saw his first officer. “So you’re why my spider sense told me to close the door.” He looked Cori up and down. “You look like more shit than usual. You ok?”

She looked down at her clothes seeing they were a little dirty, she had been wearing them the last couple of days and they probably could stand to be washed. Damn Fluke's bad habits we're wearing off on her. Despite how she looked Cori actually felt really good. The massage she had was working miracles. Having a companion on board could have it's advantages. Not to mention she enjoyed much more than the massage last night. "I'm fine. Ready for the mission, Captain." Cori said, hoping he wouldn't pick up on her good mood and would assume she had passed out in the cargo bay.

“Hmmm.” He scratched his chin. “Seems the outer appearance is deceiving. Please keep up good hygiene. Unless you want to wear a suit like your friend and keep it trapped inside.” Michael’s face grimaced at the thought. One of the things that held over from the core worlds, being clean. “Anyway, I’ve been looking all over. What were you doing here? We gotta start preparing.”

"Uh, must have come down here for something last night and fell asleep. I can't really remember." Cori said rubbing her neck where she was completely unaware there was a red mark, not really able to come up with a good excuse. Damn why couldn't she have just made it to her room without being seen? One of the bad things about being close to Michael is he knew when she was lying. That was why she refused to play cards with him, she was sure she didn't have any tells yet he always knew when she was bluffing.

Michael smirked. “Got a little something on your neck there Cor.” He laughed as he hit the door open button, kicking the ball back into the cargo bay. Could he really blame her though? He’d done the same thing. Put in a solid couple hours before they left he companions guild to go steal Alliance uniforms. Michael pulled down his own collar, he had a few marks still visible but they were fading, the other were long gone.

"Really I just went for a massage and one thing led to another." Cori said, though she had to admit last night felt like more than just a hook up, though she didn't know what it was." She followed him out of the cargo bay. "Michelangelo got us in orbit around the planet?" She said, changing the subject. They were hoping to set up an orbit above the guild headquarters a little before it was dawn on the planet so Mei would have a couple hours to get ready and go down. It really didn't matter what time they hit the station as it ran around the clock. Actually it would be better to hit it when it was the 'night' crew as they tended to run with a smaller and less experience staff.

“She kinda just threw herself at me.” Michael replied as they moved through the ship. “We’re in orbit. Already got screened security. Told them we have a companion on board.”

"It was kinda the other way around and she didn't stop me." Cori said, not really wanting to talk about it. "I should probably get changed then I'll meet you in the galley with the others." She went back to her room and took a quick shower, put the uniform on then headed to the galley. The others were there including Jade who was having something to eat. All of them who were boarding the station had some sort of uniform on. "Okay, this is it. We'll let Mei head down to the planet then we will take one of the other shuttles to the station. Mikey we'll need you in the cockpit monitoring the radio, and keeping us updated. Doc, hopefully we won't need your services but I imagine you have the med bay prepared. We will also need you to keep an eye on our guest."

"As long as we stick to our roles and act like we're supposed to be there, everything will be fine." Michael said to reassure everyone. "We proceed with the inspection. Nab the device. And we're out. Got it?"

"Those of you how are familiar with the Alliance know how much they are a stickler for their rules and regulations so King as the ranking officer will do all the talking. The rest of keep our traps shut unless someone speaks directly to us." Cori said, she showed confidence on the outside but inside she was cringing knowing it would be hard for her. She often had gotten in trouble while in the army for opening her mouth at the wrong time.

“I think I can muster up enough bark to make their heads spin while we do our thing.” Michael had on a confident smirk. “This is a research base after all. They’re not use to strict military protocol. Most of the soldiers assigned here to oversee the contracts would have gone soft without command constantly looking over their shoulders. That’s exactly what we wants. Any questions before we get started?”

[Q]

Fluke raised her hand. "Should I bring the Tez-2?" She was ofcourse talking about her high-grade longrifle. It wasn't that uncommon to see it in the hands of alliance spec-ops and since this was a black-inked inspection... Hmm. Her lower lip protruded in a sulky pout. Perhaps its overpenetrative capabilities were unprofessional with all that tech around. "And grenades?"

Despite her being determent to bring unnecessary firepower, she did look proper in an alliance uniform. It was nicely worn over her battle armor and her stance simulated a typical obedient alliance marine. She had been one, after all. Only thing she was missing was a military cap, but eh, those things weren't regulation anyway.