Short Leave On Return

[Sienna Cole]

"Thirty," she answered, grinning lopsidedly. Obviously, her math was a little off. Looking down again, she held her spoon in her left hand and used the index finger of her right to write out invisible numbers on the table top, trying to redo the math. Her braids slid over her shoulder, surrounding her face in a curtain of knotted brown ropes. "Sixteen?" she finally guessed, looking back up at the two women.

Thirty? no that didn't make sense. Though as Freya redid her math sixteen mad much more sense. EV began to consider a position for her (after all who wouldn't keep the youngin' on board) but a loud alarm began to sound.

. "WONDERFUL, THAT'S NOT-" as abruptly as it had started the alarm was quieted and suddenly she was speaking much to loudly. "-A GOOD SOU-... sorry. That's not a good sound. I didn't feel anything hit us... maybe something with the engines..?" But she could still feel the slight vibrations through the hull... what else could it be? Collision warning? But they weren't doing any evasive maneuvering... She looked to Sienna to see if she had any ideas.

EV began to yell however Sienna knew what it was, she grinned at the red head, the noise dissipating as she started yelling. The noise had quieted not nearly as quickly as her voice. "Sure yea the engines, in the sense of were outta fuel, I'm sure the Captain's got it under control though." She winked at EV, "Don't worry, I got you, two."

[Freya]

Freya paused in her attempt to begin eating when the ship had a conniption fit, flashing its lights and screaming at anyone living inside it. She held the fork near her face, mouth still open as she looked up and around in the direction of the alarms, her brows raised in question and mild concern. She'd been aboard many a ship during times of panic and this just seemed like any other day to her. Sometimes ship rides went smoothly and sometimes she had to figure out how to sneak onto a shuttle without the escaping crew noticing her. The girl had gotten pretty good at it! Hopefully, though, this wasn't one of those times. She was very happy to say that she did not want to be anywhere near a shuttle for a while...

"WONDERFUL, THAT'S NOT-...-A GOOD SOU-... sorry. That's not a good sound. I didn't feel anything hit us... maybe something with the engines..?" E.V guessed.

Why was she yelling? Freya blinked in her direction and slowly lowered her fork, thought better of it, and shoved the one bit of food into her mouth, just in case. If they had to abandon ship, she wanted at least some food in her belly beforehand. Swallowing hard, the girl put the fork back down and stared at the two women. They'd been about to offer her a job, it had seemed, before the ship had interrupted them. So if they weren't about to explode, she'd try to get them to bring that back up again.

"Sure yea the engines, in the sense of were outta fuel, I'm sure the Captain's got it under control though. Don't worry, I got you, two." Sienna assured them, looking at E.V and not Freya.

Her brow rose and she looked between them, a slow grin pulling at her lips. "Are you guys married?" she asked nonchalantly, lifting her legs to sit cross legged in her seat, one hand resting on her ankles and the other toying with the fork, her gaze on them unyielding in its curiosity.

[Evelyn Vell]

"Sure yea the engines, in the sense of were outta fuel, I'm sure the Captain's got it under control though." She winked at EV, "Don't worry, I got you, two."

E.V. smiled at the wink, and the realization that they weren't in immediate danger. She did find it odd that they were running out of fuel. Wasn't refueling usually one of the first things that was taken care of upon landing? Regardless of why, clearly it was happening, so it was something they'd just have to deal with. Or rather David would have to deal with. Maybe Sienna. E.V. had a moderate amount of skill with star-ship engines, but Sienna, holding the position of Mechanic, was likely much more skilled than she was.

Freya had been watching them, and had taken a bite or two of food.

Her brow rose and she looked between them, a slow grin pulling at her lips. "Are you guys married?" she asked nonchalantly, lifting her legs to sit cross legged in her seat, one hand resting on her ankles and the other toying with the fork, her gaze on them unyielding in its curiosity.

E.V.s immediately turned red as she blushed. She cleared her throat, embarrassedly trying not to look Sienna in the eye. "We are not. We, uh, actually just met today. This is my first day back on this ship in years." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why are you getting all embarrassed? This isn't like you, why arent you like... playing it off or rolling with it? Come on now.

[Sienna Cole]

"Are you guys married?"

Sienna stopped mid bite and swallowed. Looking down at her plate she put her fork down trying to answer the question. She tapped her fingers on the table, "Well, uhm."

"We are not. We, uh, actually just met today. This is my first day back on this ship in years."

Sienna nodded vigorously, she looked over at a Vee, who seemed to be blushing. She smiled slightly at the comp tech, Sienna put her hand on Vee's. Perhaps making things worse,but it seemed like the right move.  Clearing her throat Sienna looked back at Freya,

"No Freya we are not married, and we did just meet today." She turned back to Vee smiling, "But if she wasn't the prettiest computer technician I've ever seen, then I'd be lying." Sienna winked again and went back to eating, giving her hand a quick pat, and pulling it away.

"What about you Freya? Any husbands?" She joked looking up at the teenage, attempting to change the subject.

[Freya]

"We are not. We, uh, actually just met today. This is my first day back on this ship in years," E.V stammered in response.

"No Freya we are not married, and we did just meet today. But if she wasn't the prettiest computer technician I've ever seen, then I'd be lying," Sienna added, far calmer about the whole thing. 

Freya raised her brows and leaned an elbow on the table, staring pointedly down at their joined hands before slowly dragging her gaze up to E.V and Sienna's face, a thoughtful expression pulling her lips down ever so slightly. Clearly, they were either lying or they were going to get married at some point. If Freya had known how to bet, she'd have put money down on that. Although she wasn't sure who she'd be gambling with. But, it did beg the question...were most computer technicians ugly? Her brows furrowed for a moment as she thought on that, blue gaze staring at E.V as she tried to work out what other comp techs looked like and coming to the conclusion that it was likely something akin to a human potato.

"What about you Freya? Any husbands?" Sienna asked, drawing her unyielding focus away from poor E.V.

"Not yet, but soon, probably," she girl answered, turning her head to look in the direction the Captain had gone, her cheeks a bright pink. Obviously, the two of them were destined to fall in love and get married in some ceremony on the bow of a ship, beneath a dying star... although she'd have to give it a few years. She was still underage, technically, and she was sure Captain David was a man of refined tastes. Freya ran her hand over her wild mass of hair, wondering if she should learn how to put makeup on. "You think the Captain likes ladies with makeup and frippery?" she asked offhandedly.

[Briar Williams]

As a cherry on top of the mess they found themselves in, the fuel alarm suddenly went off, filling the cockpit with its ear-splitting blaring and eerie red lighting. David cut the racket mercifully short, but the damage was already done.

"Uh, what are the chances nobody heard that?" he asked her with an upbeat nonchalance that Briar was quickly growing accustomed to.

"Something something snowball in hell", she replied with a smirk. The crew being alerted to their situation was the least of their problems.

Briar recognized the two options they had even before David spoke them out loud: they could either go the daredevil route and attempt a crazy high-risk landing maneuver, or back up and wait for help to arrive. Based on the stories Briar had heard of David's youth, and the devil-may-care cheerfulness he'd shown her so far, she almost expected him to choose the first option, showing off his legendary pilot skills as he navigated them through the perilous crystal field and into a safe if bumpy landing, maybe giving her a wink somewhere along the way.

Instead, he chose to play it safe.

"Well, if it's a choice between losing my manhood or my life, I'd rather take the former", she quipped. As she was preparing to follow his lead in moving the ship into orbit, she noticed him looking pensive. What was that flashing in his eyes? Hesitation? Concern?

"You sure we've got enough juice to get into a safe position?" she asked.

[David Maverick]

Captain Maverick gave Briar a winning smile in lieu of an answer.

"Understood, Brass Ferret. Swift Return is on its way to you. ETA seven minutes."

David rolled his eyes and leant his head backwards briefly. Obviously he knew the fellow Fracture Field Industries ship Swift Return and was not happy to be rescued by them.

"Copy that," he replied. He grinned at Briar again but it lacked lustre. Her earlier words echoed in his head.

"What was that you were saying about manhood? You might change your mind when you meet Captain Broom. He's not going to let us live this one down for a while."

As he spoke, he began guiding the ship through the ice crystals. He'd started doing so somewhat automatically, but after a few moments he remembered he was supposed to be mentoring Briar. Given how low they were on fuel, he wasn't going to let her handle the tricky manouevers but he talked her through everything he was doing and thinking.

"And now, we wait."

He stood and moved to the back of the cockpit and opened the door into the galley.

"Well," he began talking to the crew as he returned to his less-than-hot meal, "Guess what?"

[Desertpuma]

The Brass Ferret seemed to float forward off of its last thrust. It slowly careened past the last of the ice crystals around Beylix into the void of the Black which represented the orbit around the planet. There was a stillness in the air, as much air as they could be in space, and it was almost unsettling. Other ships were moving around the orbit of the planet ferrying debris or transporting other equipment. A rough voice came across the comms. "So Maverick, I thought everything was a walk in the park to you?"

[Briar Williams]

"Captain Broom"? It was one of those names that could go either way: it could be an unfortunate surname or a somewhat troubling nickname. Briar decided that mystery could wait, and just followed David without a word. Right now, she was in need of a little refueling herself.

"Sweet, ship grub!", she exclaimed as she took her seat next to the captain. She sounded genuinely delighted; ship rations may have tasted bland and dry compared to fresh ingredients, but they also tasted like adventure and freedom and not being stuck planetside.

"You must be Freya the Wisp", she smiled at the tiny newcomer at the table. "I'm Briar, the co-pilot. We talked over the comm."

The girl appeared to be a little older than Briar had anticipated; 15? 16? Perhaps it had been the fact that she'd referred to herself as 'a kid' that had thrown her off. At that age, Briar had already become frustrated with being considered a child, and she definitely would never have called herself one -- although, in hindsight, she definitely had been one at the time. That probably made Freya smarter than her.