Nova Chasers (A space Western role-play)

((It's OK, guys. Take your time. I'll slow down a bit from now when needed. Also, points to whoever gets the references I'm using.))

"Not what, actually. Who. The contract only stated that we had to assist the LTC in the escort. It was only after I signed that it was revealed that we would be helping to escort this woman to the Federation homeworld safe and sound."

Rick snatched the remote from Avery while talking, and flipped to the image of a very young yet, regal-looking woman.

"Boys and girl, say hello to Windia's very own Princess Nina Arias II. There's a peace summit coming soon on New Britannia, and she's one of the ambassadors. Our mission, now that we've accepted, is to escort her from Windia to Britannia in one untouched piece. Once there, the LTC will take care of the rest."

Rick looks to Cammi and smirks.

"Well, if there wasn't some action and reward involved in this, I wouldn't have taken it, huh sweetheart?"

I blushed slightly and brushed a loose strand out of my face. "That's great... I can't wait to fight." I looked around the room at the eyes staring at me with a surprised expression. I furrowed my brows,"I'm not weak. Really, I'm not. I can defend myself, stop looking at me.

((Star Wars is the reference))

Our first mission had to be an escort mission. Why? I hate interacting with new people. Especially protecting people I don't know or care for. And yes I did look at the girl with a surprised look. I mean, who wouldn't? She has a small frame and doesn't look like she can defend herself. But back to the briefing.

"Yes, I have a couple of questions, before I get left out of this talk.", I say as simply as I can. "If this is such a low-grade escort mission, then why are we being contracted when not the military brass? Is there something in this mission that makes them unable to do it, especially in keeping a diplomat safe? And lastly, who is out to get the diplomat, or for a simpler sense, who are we fighting against?"

((OOC: So the reference is from Star Wars Episode 1?))

Harris, not paying attention to the screen, gives a half-arsed thumbs up to Rick while still fiddling with his surgical saw.

"'Kay then, so how long till we reach Windia?"

Harris didn't really care for who he was escorting, he doesn't really give a sh*t for royalty.

((Nope. I'll reveal it in my next post. See if you can get it by then.))

When Bohr asked his main questions, Rick suddenly had a sheepish grin.

"Well...about why we took this mission...I want to say that we're a very well-known group that gets multiple requests every day, but...I'd be lying. The truth is, we're lacking in credits, and the LTC needed a small, but reliable group that didn't draw too much attention. It was basically killing two birds with one stone."

He slowly scratched his head, as if waiting for any possible reprimands, but quickly got his usual face back.

"Either way, we need the credits, we got the job, so we're doing, like it or not. Our opposition will be some simple anarchists from Windia who don't want this meeting to happen. May even run into some pirates who catch wind of the escort and try to hold the princess for ransom. But we're not gonna let them have their way, are we guys?"

He looks around for some approval of sorts. A few seconds pass. Nothing.

"Eh..."

Suddenly, the constant whirring that was going on in the background slowed down to a low rumble.

"Well, Harris, that answers your question. We're here and ready to dock."

Rick starts walking out of the room, smiling all the way.

"If you need me, you know where to find me."

((It sure sounds like Star Wars.))

Before the Captain leaves the room, I give my final comment.

"Fine, but I'm going to be in the Engine room if you need me, fixing up some stuff and working on other things."

I get up from the chair and leave the room, heading towards the elevator back down to the Engine room.

Avery had followed the engineer out of the room, and made his way towards the cockpit with Richard not far behind him. The crew was certainly diverse when he thought about it; one barely legal combatant, a mechanic with no sense of humour, and Creepy McGee M.D. with his hacksaw. 'Well at least the girl was cute' he thought as he cozzied up to the flight console. As often as he would enjoy hitting on women, the Infinity was where his heart was at. He had even installed a personality program into the ship about a year after he'd stolen her. 'It helps when you do deep runs' Avery would say. It didn't fully interact with the ship, but she could give status reports without boring you to death.

"Hello dear"

"Oh don't you dear me, I saw that look on your face, you've got the hots for that poor little girl who joined a few days ago don't you!"

She wasn't actually mad at him, it was just the normal banter between them; she was a computer and they both knew it.

"Well alright you caught me, my hearts been stolen and I'll never have to come back to your nagging ever again"

They continued on for a minute more, and then ran out of things to talk about. Now finished with getting his permissions from the LTC port, he set in the procedures for landing down on the planet with the directions provided. Given that windgusts could reach a few hundred miles an hour, certain procedures had to be followed so no one got..blown away. It was now just Richard and Avery in the cockpit.

((OOC: haha I just caught that.))

I listened to Rick and became determined. I was determined to protect the Princess with my life. That's the honorable thing to do right?, I thought to myself, Michael...

Rick buzzed on in the back of my mind. I was completely zoned out. Suddenly, I looked up and he was walking out the room, "We're here and ready to dock. If you need me, you know where to find me"

My feet touched the ground with almost a grace as I walked down the hall toward the exit. Before opening the door to take a breath of fresh air, I turned and walked back to where Richard would be. My knuckles knocked softly against the metal door of the cockpit as I opened it. Richard and Avery looked up at me,"Sir?... Is all of the crew members joining in on the escort?" I looked down suddenly as I blushed, afraid that my question was stupid. "You know, because why do we need an engineer or pilot? O-oh no! I didn't mean that they were pointless! F-forget that I said anything..."

I looked nervously at Avery afraid that i had just offended him. Then i looked down at my feet but then looked up again. I moved a strand of hair that fell in my face. Why was I always so timid and fidgety all the time?

I rode the elevator down to the Engine room and went inside. There was my master piece. All of the valves, knobs, gyros, sprockets, everything. The space wasn't too large, or too cramped. I was able to keep all of my personal belongings down here, since it would have been too much to sleep in the crew's corridors and be expected to look after the workings of the ship.

"Oh honey. I'm back home again", I say with a tint of happiness in my voice.

Since this was to be an escort mission, and that we would possibly have to fight, I picked up my shashka near the training equipment I built from all of the scrap metal lying around. As I wait for orders from the Captain, I begin to practice all of the forms of the sword I learned while being in the military.

"I don't even know why they had us learn at least one type of weapon, but I sure am glad they did. This is really helpful to calming down.", I say to myself as I practice.

A big grin spread across Avery's face. She was a girl after his own heart, even if she didn't know it.

"Careful Teal, I may be a married man but I'm such a sucker for the shy girl you know."

"The only thing you'd ever marry is yourself you egotistical lit-"

Avery quickly muted his artificial companion; no need to have her blabbering when there's an actual conversation going on. The grin went sheepish, Fi always knew the best time to speak was the worst time for him.

"Don't mind the computer, she gets a little jealous when other women come on board. But never mind that, you need to relax; I'm not gonna shoot you just for stating the obvious. I'll likely be staying on the ship unless Lilian wants to put our Royal Paycheck in here with us...doubtful. But hey, someone might have to run defense if things get down to it."

The rest of the crew had gone off to their own rooms and Harris was the only one left in the meeting room, his legs still resting on the table and fidling with his blood-stained surgical saw he's had with him since his military service. He takes a deep sigh before kicking his legs off the table and leaving the room.

Harris looked through his pack he had slung underneath his trench coat, rummaging through, there was mostly medical equipment, bandages and field dressing as well as lethal chemical grenades and ammunition that Harris had experimented with. Satisfied with what he had packed for the upcoming mission, Harris decided to wait by the loading ramp rather than head back to the Med-bay. He leant onto the wall and stared at the closed ramp, waiting for it to open up once docking procedures were complete.

((OOC: Final Fantasy??))

My face burned as he spoke of me in the way that he did. My eyes watered and I bent over, and laughed. "That's hilarious, Avery! Your 'wife' is so witty!" I laughed hard and clenched my stomach. I didn't realize how rude I was being. "oh, I'm so sorry. That just caught me off guard."

I stood there through the awkward silence. Eventually it became too much and I walked off embarrassedly toward the loading dock. The medic was leaning on a wall there and I sat on the floor quietly next him. I waited a few minutes for him to start talking but the moment never came. I sighed and got back up. On a whim I decided to sit back down and talk to him myself,"So, how are you l-liking the...uh..." My sentence trailed off as Harris glared at me.

While Harris was leaning on the wall, the female came over and sat besides him. Harris had never talked to her before so he didn't know her name or anything about her, but he didn't really feel like starting a conversation and expected her to start it herself. Instead she sighed and got up, as she was about to leave, she decided to sit down again. Harris didn't think much of it, he was just waiting for the loading ramp to open. She started to speak so Harris decided to give her some respect and show he was paying attention to her, although it seemed that him glaring at her made her trail off as she was speaking.

"So, how are you l-liking the...uh..."

Harris waited for a while and decided to continue off for her.

"The ship? I think it's fine, not really as flashy as the Seraph class ships that I used to ride back then though but I kinda like it better than those."

Harrais gave a smirk as he looked at her, trying to make a good impression..

"My name's Harris Whittlesey by the way, I'll be the ships medic. . . at least for now. . . "

Harris tipped his hat and stood there, waiting and guessing what her response will be.

I smiled back at his smirk. "My name is Talia, but please call me Teal."

I started to play with the button on my right boot pouch.He wasn't as scary as I thought he was, considering his murder weapon...or surgical saw."I never actually been in outer space or on an actual ship before. Now that I think about it, this is the first ship that I have ever heard of. Oh, and I'll be the guard on the ship."

"I see, pleasure to meet you then, Teal."

Harris smiled back to her. She started playing with a button on her boot puch as she continued talking. "I never actually been in outer space or on an actual ship before. Now that I think about it, this is the first ship that I have ever heard of. Oh, and I'll be the guard on the ship."

Harris replied with simple nod, he thought to himself. (So that's why she's here, ey? she must be pretty good. . . that, or Rick decided to hire her because she's a girl). Harris gave a sigh to the thought he was just having and continued talking to Teal.

"That's pretty interesting, tell me, what experience do you have in combat?"Harris was trying to say this without sounding sexist as best as he could, giving a slight smile as he spoke.

"The job that I had prior to this...it wasn't the safest."I looked away from him and continued. "My boss, the man who took me in as a small child, he trained me to protect myself. I trained with knives and gun all sorts of weapons for years, throwing knives just stuck with me. Sometimes, my customers, they would try to harm me and I had to fight them. In the town that I'm from, people can fight. They are almost like assassins, so I got to know my stuff, and I do. I don't have a scar on me."

I stopped myself from rambling on too far. I looked at him and gave a smile. "I guess that counts as combat experience, ha ha. At least, I hope so." I smiled at him again and continued to toy with my button.

Harris gave a chuckle and smiled.

"I see, well, that gives me lots of confidence in you." Harris stretched his arms a little as h cotinued talking. "Seeing that you've been fighting since you were little, I guess that would mean you have a lot of experience, So I shouldn't really worry about you getting hurt while we're out there fighting, yes?"

Seeing that it was taking a while for them to finish docking, Harris decided to sit down by Teal.

"Gah, this is taking forever." I say to myself while sheathing my sword.

I attach my shashka to my belt, and I decide to take the elevator back up to the bridge deck, and go down the hallway. I walk past both of the new people who are sitting near the docking gate, on my way to the flight deck, not giving them a passing glance.

As soon as I went through the doors, I saw what I always did. A slight mess.

"Geez Captain. When are we docking? We already got to the port, didn't we? And why don't you and the pilot over there, um....Avery, keep this place well organized?", I say as my OCD kicks in and I clean the mess.

"Right!"

I gave him an enthusiastic grin. Professor Bohr walked pass us and I was ready to greet him. He didn't even give me the time of day. I shrugged him off nonchalantly. "What's with him?" I turned back to Harris, half annoyed.

I became a little sensitive but I did not know what he might have gone through. I decided to keep calm. I wanted to talk to him but I was not ready to open up to anyone and I wouldn't expect him to be. Either way, I was quite curious.

((OOC: Google the words Nina and Windia together. See what happens. And forgive my late reply. Computer undergoing huge maintenance.))

Just as quickly Teal had come into the cockpit to say her mind, she left. Rick had a blank look on his face as the spectacle passed, before he looked to Avery.

"Did she just call me 'Sir'? God, I hate formalities. Better tell her that the next time."

Soon after, Bohr came in, like he usually did, complained about the 'mess' they had in the cockpit, and started to clean...again. Rick sighs.

"I'm not gonna be able to stop you from doing this, am I, Professor? We keep it this way because it's easier. As for your other question, security has been a little tighter than usual, so there were some delays. Not to worry, though. It seems as though we're right about...done!"

With that, a green light lit up in the dashboard.

"Alright, Ave. We're clear. Set 'er down gently."

He picks up the intercom and speaks into it.

"Hold tight, you sons-of-bitches! We're about to land."