New Awakenings

[Mysthero]

Draven hated cryosleep, the experimental technology was deemed safe for deep space travel. The media praised it to the equivalent of taking a nap and when you wake, you'll be at your destination. For the young captain, it may as well be a nap in Hell.

Five years had passed since the launch of the Starfinder. Five years since the crew of Shift Echo had seen the sun, or felt grass beneath their feet. For many it was a peaceful slumber but for Draven... the cryopod offered no reprieve for the nightmares of his past. Gunfire, sirens, screams and a woman screaming his name caused his eyes to jolt open and gasp to fill his lungs with the desperate call for air. Panic immediately filling his frame as he looked out if the glass of his cryopod... and could only see stars floating by. He wasn't on the ship!? His hands slammed on the sides of the cryopod as he became fully aware of the doom that was on him... to drift endlessly alone in space forever. The pain and fear built into the back of his throat and he released a scream that could be heard... by no one in the empty void of space.

His eyes shot open and he gasped for the first breath of air to fill his lungs for the first time in five years. His eyes still wide in fear from the last nightmare he had to endure. Once he realized he was truly awake, the bright lights of the cryobay nearly blinded him as he heard the loud hiss of the pod disengaging and finally the door opened to release him from his prison.

His lungs felt like they were on fire and the nausea hit almost instantly when he climbed out of the pod and fell onto the cold floor below. Draven's nude frame shuddered for a moment, then another as five years of cryosleep had started to assault all of his senses. "Safe for deep space travel..."  He moved the science aloud  stumbling to find his footing and stand upright.

"Please Identify."

The Cryochamber computer issued its cold command aloud. An attempt to test if the occupants memory had been compromised during the journey. Draven quietly groaned as the computer was almost an assault on his still sensitive ear drums but he straightened his back to bring himself to a full figure of over six feet, his pale skin marred with the scars of war and battlefield experience stretching along his right leg, abdomen, chest and shoulders. Quietly he would brush his beard with his fingertips to try and regain some lost sensation in his lower face while his hazel eyes turned to the screen. "Captain Draven Azure, Authorization Alpha, Awaken Protocol Echo."

There was a towel, and some underwear in the compartment beneath the pod that allowed him to atleast warm his shoulders and protect his modesty. As the computer started to light up the rest of the cryobay and awaken the other Shift cremembers... Draven made a quiet escape to the showers to wash away five years of nightmares... and to be dressed in his uniform by the time the others would be awake.

[Harmony Frost]

As consciousness slowly returns, the individual experiences a disorienting haze, as if emerging from a dreamless void. Senses gradually reawaken, detecting the faint hum of machinery and the sterile chill of the cryo chamber. Muscles protest with stiffness, resisting movement after years of suspended animation. Eyes flutter open to a dimly lit chamber, adjusting to the stark contrast between the darkness of slumber and the harsh glow of artificial light. With each shallow breath, the mind struggles to piece together fragments of memory, struggling to differentiate between the distant past and the present reality. Gradually, the fog of cryo sleep begins to dissipate, unveiling a world transformed by the passage of time. For Miranda, it was also almost like a new birth. She’d joined this expedition for that very purpose, this was her opportunity to chart new territory as a chef. To challenge herself in ways that no other person in her family had done before. 

 

It was exciting!

 

“Please Identify.”

 

The cold command from the computer completely took Miranda out of her reverie and she frowned slightly, but just as quickly shook it off. “I’m Miranda Steele, Head Chef of Shift Echo, reporting,” she answered solemnly and it seemed that was enough to satisfy the computer. She found a towel and a robe beneath her pod and she stepped out of her cryo bed, bare feet on the cool tile. Idly she wondered how many people were up yet as she headed for the showers eager to get cleaned and dressed. Perhaps she could surprise the crew with a warm, tasty breakfast. Perfect for the first day after awakening!

[onearmeddruid]

Sonja blinks as she slowly and groggily sits up from her pod. she yawns who knew waking up from a frozen nap she would be just as groggy and unresponsive as she would after an actual nap or rather  deep sleep. rolls out of the pod landing face first onto the cold ground muttering in her native tongue of Russian something about candy and rabbits

"please identify" said the voice

"sluring in her speach she said " Sonja" simply before going off and a sleep induced rant in her native tongue as she sat up on the floor befor her mind cleared and a loud squeak escapes her lips as she covered her clearly nude form. hurryingly heading towards the shower her face a bright red 

Edited April 7 by onearmeddruid

[BanditKing]

Lucky stretches and groans as he is awoken by the ended cryosleep. He looks around and grumbles, treating this wake up no different from a usual waking up on a work day. “Damn… the dream was getting to the good part, too. She was damn fine.”

He stretches again and cracks his joints before slowly pulling himself out of his pod. He reaches down to feel his goods to make sure the cold sleep did not damage his goods. “Good. The essentials are still there.” Before the computer has a chance to ask for identity, he speaks up. “Lucky Pierce, Macgyver of the E-Team, few leagues short under the A-Team.” With no response from the computer he rolls his eyes. “Son of a-… Luke Pierce, mechanic and tech of the Echo crew.” He gives the computer a middle finger as a little sign of rebelling before the making his walk and not bothering with the towel. He looks over the other pods as he walks down the halls, tapping on the glass of a few of them as well as making funny faces at them, all while making guesses at who he would be working with (particularly which women he would be working with). He wasn’t sure if they gave him files to look at before the long nap, he wasn’t paying attention if they did. He couldn’t wait to see what fuck ups the previous four teams or the original builders made on the ship that he would have to fix so he could rub it all in their faces later.

He jumps into the shower and gives himself a thorough wash, though he wished the cleaning products didn’t have such boring smells. He checked over his body to make sure the rest of his body was ok since being awake. He flexes his muscles bit and smiles with satisfaction that he was still pretty damn well built. His fingers run over the scar on his chest from the heart surgery long ago, but he quickly shrugs it off and steps out of the shower to dry himself off thus finally covering himself.

He gets to his uniform and his face goes to disgust. “Really? I don’t plan wearing this shit long. I’ll make some adjustments to actually look awesome.” He grudgingly puts it on before making his way to… wherever he was supposed to go if he could remember.

[Harmony Frost]

Was it possible to dream of top soil and the trembling roots of the Wampanoag tree during cryo sleep? Ivy swears she can almost smell the fresh earth and feel the cool breeze on her face even as she woke from her slumber. Wait—was she, actually awake?! It seems the shock itself manifested in Ivy’s limbs and she jolted out of her cryo pod, squealing and falling to the floor with her legs splayed open. It was only then that she remembered that she was totally nude and another squeal erupted from her lips. She scrambled to her hands and knees, verdant curls tumbling over her shoulders as she searched for something to preserve her modesty. Blessedly she found the towel and robe left for her and she quickly donned it on, so distracted she nearly missed the computer commanding her to identify herself.

”Oh! Oh umm, it’s me! Dr. Ivy Bloom, Botanist for Shift Echo ready for duty!” She chirped, saluting enthusiastically to the screen and then blushing as she realized how unnecessary that was. Still nothing could dampen her enthusiasm at being awake. She practically skipped towards the showers, sighing disappointedly at the lack of fragrant soaps but vowing that would certainly be apart of the plants she’d cultivate if the opportunity arose. She washed quickly, readily dressing in the traditional uniform and grabbing her special gloves she used in her station. The temptation to disappear into the greenhouse and go exploring was great, but she knew they likely had a team meeting first and foremost to get things started.

[Warning]

With the responsiveness of the system, the computer was not the only being alerted about some awakenings happening. A very lively synthetic life form, roaming aboard, also was made aware of the sudden activity. It was not exactly expected, so to speak. Or at least she did not keep an exact date for which this event would take place. She was merely a lonely being most days and so her routine was mostly the same, every single days. Yet, this life form still had specific tasks to accomplish. Otherwise, she had all the free time in the world. This most likely was about to change with the events unfolding as they were. While she was not contacted directly by any means, an alert still came to her. A set of tasks for that moment then suddenly took priority over anything else that was not a direct threat to the crew. That was when she made her way to the location of where the crew was awakening from.

What would appear before anyone, if they saw her, would be a small being easily the size of a human child yet it was all but one... It did not look robotic minus some details around her ears but it did not look anything human either. She would be no higher than 3'7" tall, making any adult sized beings forced to look down to meet eyes to eyes. A black "cat" girl was what she was and the color scheme of her fur did not look like anything "normal". There was no ID on her person but symbols and small clothes of blue and black colors. Her task as it was at this moment, was to make sure the crew was, for one, alive but also in acceptable health. Her eyes scanned the area, trying to pinpoint the location of currently awakened members. Whoever that creature was, she did not seem to speak a word for the moment. Even she was surprised something other than her was moving for once in... a pretty long while...

Edited April 8 by Warning

[Mysthero]

Draven had already finished his shower by the time the others 'hatched'. Fortunately this was a civilian vessel so uniforms were only mandatory during launch and when the colony ship would make landfall on their new home. He pulled up a pair of gray cargo pants up to his hips and put on a black tank and his brown leather jacket to cover his shoulders.

Once he was finished getting dressed he closed the locker door right when a robed Miranda entered to communal locker and shower room. His eyes glanced over her briefly as he said her name aloud quietly to himself to try and steel her name to his memory. "Miranda Steele." Despite the barely audible mention of her name, he gives a small smile a nod in greeting before pointing in the direction of the showers for her.

Next to come crashing into the room was their medical officer. "Sonja Petronov." He speaks aloud to commit her name to memory, noting she seemed to forgot her robe and towel as she entered naked into the common locker room. He didn't seem all that bothered, maintaining the same small smile as he pointed to the extra towels and the showers.

Their shift lead mechanic was next in the same state as Sonja but bearing much more confidence in letting everything just swing openly. The captain gave him a small nod in greeting before saying the name aloud. "Luke Pierce."

Finally Dr. Ivy Bloom followed suit, taking initiative and getting showered and dressed before he could greet her. He quickly grabbed the shift folders and started laying them out at each of the crew members lockers for them to peruse at their leisure each one documenting their fellow crew members to provide soft reminders of everyone's responsibilities. While some were in the showers still and others were getting dressed he announced himself loudly to try and politely get their attention. "Good morning Crew Echo! I'm Captain Azure if you don't remember me from launch day. Once everyone's got the sleep washed off, we'll head to the common area for some comfortable seats and God willing... coffee."

As he was about to continue he noticed the door opened but didn't see anyone enter right away until he saw a black bundle of energy standing at the same height of his hips. "Oh, what was her designation... uhh..oh! SRK, thank you for arriving. Once everyone is dressed we'll go over morning announcements, can you tell me the ships status?"

[Harmony Frost]

Hmm, seems like the captain wants us to go casual instead of formal, Miranda thought to herself having got a short glimpse at the man in question just moments ago. She set aside her typical uniform for the moment, opting instead for the comfort of her more everyday clothes. Namely, a simple tank dress that had a v-shaped neckline and although it was form fitting the slits along the sides gave her a free range of motion. She paired it with a pair of comfy heeled boots and a waist apron that acted as a tool belt of sorts. Her hair had been blessedly easy enough to manage, falling in long inky black waves down her back and so she was among the first to be ready apart from the captain himself. Speaking of the captain, she smirked at the mention of coffee. Well if she had anything to do with it, they’d have at least that much. 

 

Helpful signs led her towards the kitchen and she quickly went to task with finding acceptable breakfast food and most importantly coffee for their meeting. Normally she’d rather do a full assessment and inventory of the kitchen but that would have to wait until later. However she figured there was no harm in some fresh brewed coffee, fruit, and cereal. She also found some pre-packaged items that you simply popped into a toaster so she’d bring them along as well. There was a handy cart that had its own hob and energy source so Miranda simply loaded everything up and wheeled it over to the rec room. She could imagine that small comforts like a hot cup of coffee or tea and something to eat went a long way after waking up from stasis. Not to mention it would help ease any tension caused by lack of socialization and possibly foggy memories here and there. Might alleviate certain anxiety and some stress too.

 

¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

 

Jojoba, lye, glycerin, vitamin E, hmmm and perhaps some yuzu and lemons….

 

Ivy’s brain was busy determining what plants were needed to concoct better soaps for the bathrooms as she took one of the quickest showers. She was already practically dressed by the time the captain was addressing them concerning their first meeting. Did he say…coffee? Hmmmm coffee grounds were a natural exfoliant…. and again her mind whirred away with more combinations and cultivation requirements to carry out these grand plans of hers. She noticed that it was going to be a more natural start to the day’s work so she figured no one would bat an eye if she swapped out her uniform for a pair of overalls instead. Although her undershirt looked decidedly more cropped now that it wasn’t as hidden. Oh well, she preferred the less stuffy look anyways! 

 

When she was done changing she burst out into the hallway nearly careening directly into someone else. “Oh geez I’m sorry, I’ve been antsy since we all woke up! But I know I ought to watch where I’m going. I’m just eager for the meeting to finish so I can go off to my lab,” she finished with a nervous laugh, blushing as she looked up at the male crew mate. “I imagine you probably feel the same, right Lucky?” She smiled, proud to have remembered him from launch day. “Mind if we walk the rest of the way together?”

Edited April 8 by Harmony Frost

[onearmeddruid]

Sonja turned on the water blushing as she lathered up soap to put on her body. she could've sworn she was wearing clothes but she could not remember. oh this has happened ever since.......... it hurts her head to remember that but she quickly got done washing looking for her clothes in the locker room trying to calm her frayed nerves she honestly hated being naked though a part of her  wanted her to be once again it hurts to remember or whatever happened.

Sonja hums as he puts on a heavy overcoat onto her self feeling comfortable in anything that made her asset look smalelr than they actually were

[BanditKing]

Lucky was a bit irritated at being called by his birth name. He stops a moment to turn to Draven and salutes him with a middle finger. “Get the name right, Captain Planet. It’s Lucky.” He doesn’t bother with the files on his locker and goes in to grab some of his favored attire: a t-shirt and a pair of work pants followed by a pair of boots. He also slaps on a tool belt and then a work jacket over his shoulders just he could have more pockets for tools. Finally, he puts on his lucky items: gloves, goggles, and a hat.

He starts his way to the hall when the little gardener bumps into him. He looks her over with a smirk as she starts speaking. He did like that she at least got his name right. “No trouble at all, green bean. I feel the same way. Get this meeting through so I can get right to work improving whatever crap the other crews left for us. I could use a little company to get there. Care to lead the way?” Truth was, he wanted to follow from behind to appreciate some of her features from the back.

[Warning]

The cat creature finally finished taking a good look at the small crew and before she could really address them, the captain did well to notice her and do so first. She turned to him and spoke with a voice that seemed pretty "normal" for what she looked like, making difficult to know if she was even real or not, "Warning! Identification of all awake personal required! This unit has been taking care of the ship while the crew has been sleeping.". The voice felt less robotic, having actual personality into it and her personality didn't seem amused, based on the mildly serious expression painted on this little creature's face. The little she spoke seemed to express that she had been alone for a while but at least managed the ship while they were sleeping. Still, her eyes were locked on Azure, seeming to guess or know that he was the captain in charge. She continued with her mood, "Status report of the ship, no problems detected but personal is required to help with maintenance. All resources are intact and ready for personal usage and consumption.". Her small frame finally looked at everyone else curiously and watched their behavior or reaction, prepared to answer questions if they had any.

Edited April 8 by Warning

[Chiyako]

One pod had been sequestered away from the others within its own compartment upon the massive spacefaring vessel. It had been a late addition to the ship, for within this lone pod was an anomaly of sorts, at least for most of Humanity. A single Luanari had been sent along on the expedition, and had been smuggled in by those with the proper clearance to know of her people. With any luck their species would not be a secret for too long, but for the time both the Luanari and The Earth Federation were still going through the complicated process of alliance building and exploration of one another's peoples. Humans were not the first aliens discovered by Luanari society, but they were perhaps the first creatures close to what a Luanari might consider to be proper people.

Within the pod slept one of their brightest new graduates from the Starstrider's Academy of Zala: Xyvee. She had fallen asleep with one arm across her chest and the other dipped between her legs. Despite the many years living within Dormitory X86, and her academy days in a similar environment, Xyvee was still as self-conscious as ever. Thankfully there was no proper protocol for how one was supposed to slumber. At least, not in a Luanarian cryocasket. Would a Human cryocasket differ? This was the first proper experiment of her people! It wasn't a completely dangerous experiment, of course. Humans had tested it on their own before, or so they had been assured, and a Luanari's body was far more durable.

The defrosting process was a bit longer, taking a few hours overall to complete. It made sense given Humanity's more primitive designs. A Luanarian cryocasket would only take a few minutes at the most! Despite this disadvantage the experiment was thankfully a complete success, as the young Luanari's naked form was properly returned to a safe temperature. A few minutes later and her golden orbs were flickering open, casting a faint glow within the slightly darkened pod. Lights gradually brightened to ease with her waking, and once the pod had detected that she was properly awake it slid open with a hissing noise, allowing a plume of steam to escape.

Thin arms stretched outwards, as did a pair of inhuman feet. The Luanari sat up and reached a hand to her head, fingers scratching upon her scalp while she yawned and readjusted to the realm of the conscious. The last thing she remembered was climbing into the pod, covering herself, and nodding an affirmative to her commander. This had taken place aboard a Luanari vessel. Even her Human language teacher had been a Luanari!

Today was going to be the first time she properly witnessed a Human in the flesh!

Of course she knew that they had flesh because she had been forced to take a crash course on Humans, as had been her backups in case something were to happen to her and she had been for some reason unable to join the Starfinder initiative. She had learned enough of their language to get properly started and enough about their culture to not make things too awkward. Apparently they shared many similarities, which was perhaps why the Luanari government was so interested in them. That and their anatomy had been the closest fit to Luanari anatomy that they had seen. For the genetically enhanced Luanari that was an exciting prospect to explore!

It was then that a voice blared to life, causing the sensitive Luanari to wince slightly.

"Please identify."

The words rang through her head for a solid minute, repeated every few seconds by whatever machine had produced it. She was still waking up and already Xyvee was forced to dust off her knowledge of Human language! Now what were their words? Something about a request. Then information pertaining to one's self. A request for information on her. Words started to click together, translations formulated within her mind.

"Heelloo?"

No, that didn't sound right. But it was a computer she was speaking to, so this made for good practice.

"Kssheevee."

It appeared to be close enough to do the trick, as the voice repeating the words finally went quiet. Fingers gripped upon the edge of the open pod. With some effort the little ashen figure hoisted herself, vaulting out and onto the chilled metal floor below. Upon landing she stumbled, dropping to a knee as her body was still coming to terms with being awake again. With a hand upon the pod she straightened herself out. Only then did the chill passing across her body remind her that she was, in fact, completely naked!

With a quiet squeak her arms moved, one down to cover her crotch and the other up to cover her chest! Realizing that her rump was also uncovered Xyvee closed her eyes and focused upon her scalp. Over the next minute her short bubblegum colored hair grew out, only halting once it was long enough to also cover her backside. This would certainly help in whatever showers were present. That was assuming of course that the showers were communal here as well.

A quick look upon the pod revealed the existence of a compartment, one which would store her things. What precisely did her people pack for her? As it turned out, not very much. One Starstrider uniform with basic combat attachments. Also a thin white cotton robe, surely placed there by some Human who had taken pity upon her. No weapons, no advanced Luanari technology.

Wow. Well I guess this is good for learning their technology, right?

It made sense. They wouldn't want to give away too much of their technology. Even the Starstrider uniform was probably more than they were willing to loan out, but then preparing proper combat attire fitted for a Luanari was probably asking for a bit too much on such short notice. Still, it would have to suffice! It wasn't as though she wasn't used to wearing her uniform everywhere. That would simply be the case here as well!

I was kind of looking forward to trying on some of their clothes though.

Donning the white robe Xyvee departed from the hidden chamber carrying her standard Luanari Starstrider combat uniform. Not that she intended to wear the whole thing, but she figured she'd bring it along now until she located wherever it was that she would be staying. Really only the undersuit was worn when outside of any serious situation. Of course Humans seemed to often wear more, so she was hopeful that it was going to be enough to avoid offending anyone.

Thankfully it was simple enough to follow the guideance that the ship was giving to her, and she ultimately managed to reach what was apparently the ship's bathing chambers. Or, rather, the locker room which led into said bathing chambers! When she entered her suspicions about the communal nature were confirmed, as there stood one of the Humans. Also a very fluffy creature whose origin she did not know. This was very unexpected!

A male, I believe. And a something? What is that? A pet? It resembles one of their creatures, I think.

The little Luanari's mouth was slightly agape in awe at the size of the creatures. She knew that Humans were bigger but she had been unprepared for just how vast the difference in size would be! He had to be almost twice as tall as she was. Even their pets were huge! Regardless, this was her first meeting with one, and she had to make a great impression, and so Xyvee did the first thing to come to mind: she closed her right hand into a fist, pressed it to the center of her chest, and stood at attention for the tall man!

"Hellooo!"

Closer, but not quite. Lessen the ending sound. It would fit better then. Of course she was already painting a worse picture than she'd wished. The robe was a bit long for her, barely brushing against the floor around her feet, sleeves hanging quite baggy off her thin form.

"Kssheevee."

Wait, she had been given a shorter name to use. Now how to present that information? A few awkward moments passed before she continued.

"Can speak Ehvee. Solder. Piloot."

Thankfully the need to translate her words on the spot was enough of a distraction from the fact that she was completely naked beneath the thin robe which covered her body, and that this was a place where other Humans would be naked.

[Mysthero]

((Imagining Draven seeing this tiny alien wearing a robe made me giggle/snort harder than I actually expected!   ))

 

When the door opened and the tiny shift pilot introduced herself to him, he had a sudden flashback of memory discussing how an alien would be aboard the vessel to serve as a sort of exchange program amongst their people. The confusion on Draven's face wasn't from he existence... but her presence on this shift. He thought someone so important would have been assigned to Shift A... or even B...  but Echo? That didn't make sense!

A comical image of Draven on the bridge with an android and alien, both half his size being his bridge crew. That had to be someone's cruel joke at his expense. Even still he smiled and returned that strange alien's salute across his chest before responding. "Captain Draven Azure. Welcome to Starfinder Evee." He offered a warm and welcoming smile  to theif latestnaddjkk?%⁶when his confusion subsided and even too a moment to reach down and help her roll up the robes sleeved so they wouldn't hang off hers hands. "Go ahead and shower and meet us in the common area, we'll be having a quick breakfast, some coffee and we'll get started."

 

With that, Draven turned his attention toWarnig. "Excelent! SRK, go ahead and print out the maintenance log and I will pass it along. For now, let's make sure everyone gets a full belly and is ready to.... I dunno... boldly go?" Realizing his reference or joke may be lost on his current audience, Draven left the locker rooms and followed some of the others to the common room. Where he was happy to see Miranda was setting out an assortment of cereals and brewing coffee for the others. He quickly poured a cup of black coffee into a clean mug before mouthing a very silent 'Thank You' to Mirage.

Once everyone got settled in, he started speaking once again. "Alright folks, I understand everyone is still waking up and trying to figure out how for the next 365 days the fate of this entire ship is in the hands of a rag tag handful of humans, an android cat, and a..." He paused before saying alien, instead glanced at his folder to make sure he was saying it right. "Loonara?... Lunari?...  Luanari!" He corrected himself before sipping his coffee and and allowing the hot liquid to gingerly scald his tongue and mouth and warm his insides. "It's been five years since we launched, and we will start passing through some systems with viable planets for possible habitation and resources. Our job will be to scout out these locations and either set up the colony... or... take whatever we can use to better the mission. The Earth Federation wrote me a speech to try and inspire you folks to doing your jobs about how hopes and dreams rest on our shoulders yada-yada... our names will be forever written down in history... blah-blah-blah. Look I could read it but instead let me sum it up very simply for everyone. These folks are looking for a new home and it's our job to get them there. If we don't find it in the next year, we go back to sleep and the next crew will look for a year, so on and so forth. For many of you, this is a fresh start. Let's make try and make it a good one yes? Any questions so far?"

[Harmony Frost]

“You’re welcome,” Miranda acknowledged the captain’s mouthed words with an airy laugh. “I’ll make sure to have a fresh pot brewed every morning,” she promised, flashing a warm smile. She assembled everything on the cart so that it was not only presentable and appealing but also flowed naturally with whatever someone wanted to eat. And then she faded into the background, the real meaning behind the not so endearing nickname given to her by her family. Dedd see pure all of her training and accomplishments she was actually the least accomplished person in the long succession of chefs in the Steele family. Not to mention that her personality was drastically different from the braggadocious and snobbish behaviors exhibited by her family. In comparison she was a lot quieter, still proud, but smaller in comparison. 

 

Or as her father said, she was unremarkable. Not a real chef at all. Hence, Mirage. 

 

But she’d flipped that dubious moniker on its head. Wearing the name as a badge of honor, cultivating this tale about a woman who was as mysterious and alluring as the dishes she made. She was always experimenting with spices and herbs from all sorts of places and she tended to flit about from place to place. Never staying long enough for the rest of the world to catch up. A true mirage.

 

But here on the ship there wasn’t any place to run. 

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Green bean? 

 

Idly she wondered if she should be offended by the nickname but then again green beans were delicious and nutritious! On top of that they were good for soil. So maybe he was paying her a greater compliment than she thought! Chuckling she beamed up at the mechanic and led the way as he suggested, hips swaying as she moved. It didn’t take long for them to reach the recreation room and Ivy immediately brightened at the sight of food. “Oh look Lucky, sustenance!” She tugged on said man’s t-shirt, dragging him happily to the cart carrying the goods. “Oh, heya Captain, Miranda!” She waved again before losing herself in the choice of cereal and fruit. 

 

Once she made her selections she settled down, trying her best to focus on the meeting and not just think about whatever else she wanted to do that day. Luckily it seemed that the Captain was just giving them a pep talk in a sense. For Ivy, she was sneaking curious glances at the Luanari on board. She had minimal knowledge about them but she could only imagine what sort of plants and things may be native to their home planet. She wondered if she could corner the small pilot and ask her a few questions…

[onearmeddruid]

Sonja was.bored , really really bored she hated speeches she would rather being eating strawberries as she held her head in her arms. 

Once it was all said and done her inquisitive side looked at the small alien creature desire of dissection enter her mind before she shook her head she was brought in as a doctor not a medic for her old.......work. speaking of which she needs to go find her notes  grabbing a handful of strawberry and anything she deemed sweet as she head back to her pod to search for notes rubbing her head as remembering caused a form of headache. Her work as a mercenary ended and that dreaded return was behind her the old mill in a forgotten town was ash, turned to flame along with any of it's dark evidence behind. Most of it anyway not that she would go back.......

it was an eternity in there

[BanditKing]

Lucky’s eyes were glued to the sway of her hips like a swinging pendulum lulling him to hypnosis. The rest of the world was nonexistent as far as he knew until she suddenly tugged on his shirt and snapped him out of it. He indulges her excitement and lets her pull him to what he assumed was a hotel continental breakfast. He eyes everything over before mumbling “How tough am I?” Before he just grabs a bowl of cereal and skips past the milk.

He takes a seat and looks the room at all the people he would be working with. His eyebrow arches at the extra terrestrial. His attention finally turns to the captain and he lets out a groan at his talking as he mumbles to himself again. “Great. The “don’t think of me as your boss, think of me as your friend” kind of guy…” In his mind, those types of people ending up being the most tyrannical douchebags. He does somewhat chuckle at the “boldly go” comment, glad he at least knows some references.

As the captain asks about questions, Lucky raises his hand. “Yeah… I got some questions. For starters… let’s address the “not” elephant in the room… what’s the deal with the Keebler elf there?” He points to Xyvee. “I mean… I understand why we have Lassie on the team, but I am trying to figure out what shortstack is doing here.”

[Warning]

SRK focused mostly on the captain, leaving the team that seemed focused on their own thing doing whatever they were doing. When she was asked to do a task, she simply went and fetched what he was asking for. It did not take too long as she was capable of communicating with a few systems of the ship on her own. Seeing another shortstack being around while she had been busy made her look confused for a moment but she did not pay attention to it right yet. At the end of his speech, the cat bot felt the need for corrections. "Warning! This avatar is not an android cat but an Anthroid, designed for communication between me and the systems used for your survival. I also specialize in language translations and detection of issues therefore communication of alerts to the authorized personal and computers.", she tried to explain with the most serious yet seemingly annoyed face.

Though her mood did not exactly improve as she heard a word that seemed to address her in a not exactly flattering manner or at least she seemed to assume it was used for her, making her continue her lecture, "Warning...! You will not give this unit any inappropriate nicknames such as Lassie. Only my assigned identification, SRK, may be used to address me." For a synthetic, she still managed to express her emotion pretty well but being the shortest figure of the room made difficult to take her seriously. At least she seemed to be light and not too maintenance heavy, for what she was capable of doing aboard the ship. A thing of her size would be able to fit about anywhere in case of problems, including air ducts or who knows, maybe even outside the ship itself unless she required to breath like any other living things. For now, she kept a mostly annoyed expression almost as default.

[Chiyako]

The Human smiled and spoke words which took a few moments to register within the young Luanari's mind. Captain was a rank. The other words that followed were probably his name, or perhaps a title. A greeting. The Starfinder. And, finally, her nickname! Things were actually clicking pretty well for her, which meant that the cryosleep had not inflicted any lasting damage upon her brain.

Captain Drahveen Azor. Draveen Azure? Draven Azure? There we go. This is my new captain.

She remained still when the probably-a-male crouched down and adjusted the sleeves of her robes. Clearly she had been wearing it incorrectly. Perhaps it wasn't the wrong size, and it was supposed to be this long? It was entirely possible.

Captain seems like a nice Human.

"Yeez Capteen. Evee shooer."

Indeed, now she knew who she was serving, and they were already making a good impression! This of course meant that she had to put in the maximum effort into whatever he might possibly ask of her! First things first: bathing!

The little Luanari hustled off past the man to set her clothes near a locker. By the time she entered the showers she was, thankfully enough, alone. Clearly she had woken up late! But this meant at least that she could wash herself in private, and this in turn made the entire experience pass much quicker. There was no ened to maneuver around in such a way to hide her body. But then it also meant that she couldn't get a closer look at an unclothed Human either. That, it seemed, would need to wait!

Once she had finished up Xyvee dressed herself in the official uniform of a Luanari. It was effectively a dark grey skin tight body suit with various built in systems, although these were meant to pair with Luanari technology. When not worn it was quite loose and baggy, with only the attached shoes being hardened, along with a semi-hard collar. After pulling it on one's body sensors built into the suit reacted to the heat given off, which in effect switched its internal systems on. By pressing a sequence of buttons upon the collar, and securing it properly to the neck, the rest of the suit tightened and set into place. It was only half of the normal Luanari combat armor, the other pieces consisting of leggings, gloves, and a torso piece, all of which slid on over the body suit. The torso piece was even capable of projecting a bubble helmet!

Only the body suit was required when in uniform, and it was all that she wore when she finally entered the common area. Enjoying the feeling of long hair, she decided to keep it at hip length. Upon arrival she was hit with the exotic smells of what she could only assume was Human food, and after five years of slumber her body was hungry for just about anything. Not that she needed that to partake, of course. Xyvee was quite curious regardless of her condition! But she couldn't simply run up and gorge herself on food. There was sure to be proper protocol for this sort of thing. Besides, she hadn't even introduced herself to the rest of the crew! Perhaps more importantly, the Captain was speaking, which meant it was now her duty to listen and translate.

It was a flurry of words which were difficult to keep up with, but she managed to catch on to what she believed to be the gist of things. When the Luanari were named she straightened herself up and pressed her right fist to the center of her chest, offering the same salute to the others that she had delivered before to the Captain. Of course her new Captain was clever, and didn't even need her to pronounce the name of her people, as he ultimately figured it out on his own. Truly he was shaping up to be someone she could follow!

Right, there were other words too. Also plenty she didn't quite understand. What she did understand was their mission, and a request for questions. For the moment she had far too many to ask, and so she decided to wait. Others would find it easier to ask, after all, and it was entirely possible that all of her questions would be answered!

Another Human, again most likely one of the males, pointed in her direction, which only prompted her to tense her stance up even further still! He too apparently was asking for questions. Or was going to ask some? Wait, no, that one seemed more likely. Also there was talk of some sort of creature she had read about, something called an elephant. Apparently it was in the room! This obviously prompted her to glance around, somewhat confused as she was pretty certain they were detailed as being quite large. How could she have missed such a creature's presence?!?

I do not think that there is such a creature here.

And then it clicked! He had also used the word not, which meant no. There was no elephant in the room. Perhaps the Captain had asked about it, and she had gotten lost in the mess of words which had been delivered from his lips. More words were spoken and these too were unknown to her.

What is a Keevler? I swear I have read somewhere about something called Elf. What is a Leshy? Lashy? Lassee? They should have given us more time to study, I think.

Short. She understood that word. It was fair. But the mention of stacking something was also confusing to her. She was not stacked upon anything, nor was anything stacked upon her! Unless he was referring to something else? Again her golden gaze wandered about, hoping to seek out answers to these strange statements. Perhaps it was an issue of figuring out names? When her gaze finally returned to those who were gathered she spoke, summing up as much courage as she could muster, for this would be her very important introduction to her new crew!

"Hello. I Kssheevee. Can speak Evee. Luanari. Soldier. Pilot."

She nearly jumped with joy in triumph, the few minutes she'd spent in the shower having apparently been enough to correct some of her words! A perfect introduction if she did say so herself! Not that she would out loud, as that would be bragging and bragging was somewhat looked down upon.

[Mysthero]

Between Lucky's attitude and SRK blaring protocols at everyone, he struggled to maintain a positive tone about their chances. The Evee seeming not to understand the unintentional insult reintroduced herself to Lucky and Draven could only lift his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in quiet regard for their crew, his eyes closing momentarily and he uttered the next words aloud but not directing them to anyone in particular.  "This is going to be a long flight."

Draven cleared his throat and brought his hand down to take another sip of coffee. After swallowing the beverage he would attempt to clear his throat before speaking again. "Lucky right? In the future let's try keeping SRK to her designation. I doubt any of us want to have 'Warning' ringing in our ears throughout the night." Once again in unformal fashion he sat down at the table and leaned into his chair, showing a strange sort of weariness that became more evident when he had to prop his left arm onto the table with his right with some effort showing a sort of unexpected stiffness. "I didn't think I'd be the one explaining this. It was only brought to my attention maybe a year before launch. After Lunar Corporation was destroyed The Earth Federation made contact with the Luanari. As you can imagine after nearly a century of war The Earth Federation was worried that introducing an alien species into the equation would only result in more conflict. So it was agreed, that some chosen humans would live among the Luanari and learn of their culture... and the Luanari would send some of their chosen to participate in special programs and learn of our species. Evee here was selected for this unique program because she will get to witness our first attempts at deep space exploration and colonization. If anyone needs an adjustment period, I'm authorized to allow you to go back in your sleeper."

Draven then started to lay out a blueprint of the ship's layout for the others to see. "This ship runs mostly on autopilot, other than emergencies or shuttle piloting, Evee will be operating as both security and in a learning capacity. So be respectful. Does anyone else have any questions before we get started with the day's agenda?"

[Harmony Frost]

One advantage of her tendency to fade into the background was her ability to unobtrusively lurk during the meeting. Quietly speaking to those who had yet to partake from the breakfast offerings and insisting that they eat something. She knew the captain would not mind and as she gazed at this motley crew she could imagine the likelihood of everyone quickly becoming occupied with their own affairs and agendas and completely neglecting their health. While she was not the ship’s physician, Miranda was not ignorant of the importance of fueling one’s body through food. In fact, it was an extremely important aspect of her job to see to the dietary and nutritional needs of everyone onboard. So she pushed her cart around the table, nudging people gently and gesturing towards her wares, her smile warm but firm. There was no turning her down and she didn’t move on until everyone had something to eat. However minimal it may be. 

 

She couldn’t help but give a faint sniff of approval when the captain demanded respect for the Luanarian joining their team and undoubtedly this carried over to all ‘others’ a part of their team. It was important not to jeopardize our relationship with these beings and frankly Miranda personally found Xyvee ridiculously cute and she couldn’t wait to get to know her better. Same with the rest of the crew!

 

—————————::::::::::::::::————————-

 

Dr. Bloom squirmed in her seat, taking in the interactions between the others. Grateful for the small distraction when Miranda came around to make sure everyone had eaten. She accepted a refill to her tea, surprised that she’d guzzled a cup down already. But perhaps that was due to being nearly overwhelmed by how interesting everyone was. The clash of personalities was nice to see, if she had gone into more human studies instead of plants, this would be fertile ground for a social experiment. But ah, there she went thinking about soil again! When the captain asked if there were any more questions she shook her head, bouncing her leg impatiently as the call to her lab was increasing over time. Could they just get to the day’s work already?!

 

[onearmeddruid]

Sonja strode down into the halls having left a while ago humming to herself as she got onto her hands and knees diggin through the drawer in her pod finding her little box of notes and other forbidden things  she worked on in the past. with a satisfied hum she walked towards what she thought was her lab, truth be told old habits died hard her work as a mercenary combat medic doubled as her  chance to have her own lab to conduct her own "studies" well maybe she should look for a medlab she hated offices  and placed her stuff on the counter humming to herself as she searched for an operating table to keep track of everything she thought she needed. 

she muttered to herself forgetting that she was the ship's doctor not a scientist the odds of being allowed to do either was slim at best she grew to used to fighting that endless mercenary war though when that had ended aand that dreaded...........

she slammed her hands on the counter her head hurt soon going away as it had come

[BladeRunner]

There was one particular pod that hadn't yet been activated. The content inside was of biomechical design yet unlike the rest of the crew the pod remained dormant. When all others were awakened and off to their duties only then did the pod activated. Suddenly the machine hissed, releasing cold air and allowing the thawing process. In that time did the flicker of a visor indicate activity was being around. 

As soon as the cryo pod's hisses opened and slid upward to allow the individual to exit, the Protogen did just that. Cautiously he stepped out, taking one step at a time until fully standing with his back facing the pod opening. There was a loading bar across the black shaped  visor, the fingers and bushy tail of the Protogen twitch slightly here and there as if they were still in a dream state. After a minute the bar fully loaded in its blue color, it flickered off then eyes and a mouth were formed from simple lines, shaped to give off expression. The eyes opened to a simple single dot in either or presented as pupils, the Protogen looked down at the pod with a look of disgust... More so with what one could describe as anger. 

"So I am not in hell..." The Protogen quietly said to himself with deep tone yet there was the obvious synthetic background that came with it like a background. 

"Please Identify." 

"Series One, Model Two-Forty-Five." The Protogen announced quietly to the pod. 

Finally the pod closed after giving a light chime,  finishing its processing for the next shift. He stared at it for a moment before moving again to stretch this time, allowing his flesh to get the limberness it needed after being frozen. He thought that he had died, the Protogen thought that Earth Gov. would've sent him off to space forever in a cryo pod, perhaps into the sun even. He still felt it, the burning, the torment, for an instance he thought he had seen a familiar pink and purple light above the pits reaching down to finally deliver him unto... That was until Model 245 awoke from his long nightmare. But now he was here, in a new kind of hell. 

Model 245 turned to see an empty room, obviously everyone else had been awoken as well and very recently at that. Despite the lack of mechanical repairs needed, he decided a hot shower was in fact in order. Later. Instead 245 used his motion tracker to see where everyone was, and luckily it was the common room that seemed to be the point of interest. Without needing to change and his metallic armor pieces keeping his pieces hidden and protected, he moved into the halls. 

Finally arriving into the common rooms did Model 245 take a place in a corner, carefully stating out of everyone's sight as he leaned against the cold steel wall. Some during orientation called him, "Cringe," For acting the way he did. It was the fact he hated people that he remained distant. 

 

 

 

[BanditKing]

Lucky rolled his eyes at Draven’s plea. “Seriously? Of all the things for her to issues for it’s her name? Maybe it was wrong to call her Lassie then. She sounds a lot more like “Tamagotchi” with that amount of whining. If constant beeping is a problem, I’m sure I could build a mute button.”

He listens to the explanation about the alien girl and scoffs. He gets up and walks up to the captain as he rants “Great… even up here in the most important mission for the planet, our government is hiding shit from us. Glad they did a psychological check on the crew to make sure nobody was xenophobic… wait… that never happened” He makes an over dramatic shrug. “Oh well, best hope nobody in the crew is frightened of little green men, or little bluish tits. Not to mention we will be so fortunate to have her as security as long as none of our threats were shin guards our use mouse traps against her. Damn… no different from earth. We are going to end up doing the same shit that got us in this mess all over again.”

Without another word, he turns and makes his leave from the common room, leaving his dry bowl of cereal right by Xyvee, the more colorful bits of it were made into a smiley face. Lucky immediately makes his way for the engineering, feeling the growing need to demolish and break some things to let out some steam. He didn’t even notice the Protogen entering the common room when he got out.

[Warning]

SRK remained calm for a bit, just listening to the captain's words even though the small lecture about her warnings poked her the wrong way but she did an effort to keep her mouth shut until she heard how she was being called a tamagotchi, which seemed to have done well to offend her and make her shout her usual alert, "Warning!! This way of naming this unit will not be tolerated and I will not be muted, according to my role and function within this ship. A function that did well to keep all of the personal alive for many years." Her expression of annoyance and anger did well to tell that such remarks affected her and her limited capabilities to communicate, as communication with the crew was not exactly fully developed in her social base program, made her simply throw an alert for caution regarding such disrespect toward her. SRK was capable to learn and adapt but she had been quite alone for a while so learning was not very available.

Still, she was annoyed enough that she did not stay around very long, thinking that her functions for now were complete. Without another word, she left to make sure the ship and its systems were in order to welcome the crew. If the captain had need for her, he would simply need to call upon her or speak to her, as she was to follow orders from the highest ranked personal of the ship. Unless interrupted, she would go and make sure that all systems of every quarters and areas were operative. Many of these areas would respond to authorized IDs. The list of personal was available for the captain at any time inside of the bridge, along with where they were authorized to be and if any restrictions applied to any of them. Otherwise, every areas would be ready to be used by the crew. The systems only required for an authorized crew member to step inside a location to be recognized by the system and allowed to use the room for its intended purpose.

Edited April 10 by Warning

[Chiyako]

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for the captain of their merry group Xyvee had not taken notice of the man's somewhat obvious frustration with the Echo crew. Not that she had any part to play in that. Certainly not! A language barrier between two newly acquainted species was entirely forgiveable!

Or so she would hope had she known that there was, in fact, an issue.

Another torrent of words ran through one ear and out the other. Her brain, as genetically enhanced as it was, had not been specifically tailored for this sort of work. Things were lost. But she did understand that there was some discussion about the proper use of names, and something about warnings and muting things. Oh, and that word once again: Lassie! Also something designated Tamogatchi. It sounded very important.

In the course of their discussions a cart was brought about by one of what she assumed to be the female Humans. It was easy to tell, for their chests appeared to bulge outwards far beyond what the males exhibited. Her own people had something similar, although they were but tiny bumps by comparison. Even the largest that she had ever seen only really filled out her own small palm. Humans were on another level entirely! But at least it made it easier to tell which was which.

Regardless, the cart being pushed carried a number of Human delicacies. A few of the items she recognized. The black drink was either something known as coffee, something know as tea, or something known as sodapop. Probably. Those were the most common drinks of that color, but then the alcohol family also included a great many different colors. However given the current simulated time, and the other pairings such as the cereal, she could essentially narrow it down to either coffee or tea.

Whatever it may be, it smells kind of pleasant!

With a smile the short security officer accepted a cup of coffee, drawing it close to her lips both to smell it and to allow some of the steam to pass across her horns. They were, after all, half sensory organs. A lot more information could be gleamed through them! In fact they were sensitive enough that Luanari often showed affection through the brushing of one's horns against the horns of those they wished to share feelings with or, in the very rare case when it happened, something further than even that! Of course in the moment she was doing none of that. It was more important to determine whether or not coffee was safe for her. Luanari had tried out some Human foods, but this one, she had been informed, required more testing.

Something about making our people excitable? Or was it energetic? I wonder what affects it might have on a Human! This is so very exciting!

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the captain spoke the name of her people once more, having gone into further explanation about her presence on board the vessel. Again, she picked up most of what was said, partially thanks to prior knowledge about the topic. There was a conflict within the Human sphere. They met the Luanari. It was decided to keep their relations a secret for the time being. Xyvee was here as a representative of her species. As such she offered a simple nod along with her captain's explanation.

When the blueprint was brought out she turned her attention towards it, eyeing the skematic carefully while she sipped upon the hot, apparently bitter tasting drink. It appeared the vessel was more than capable of running itself. She would be, more or less, a backup system to that. And security, which was closer to her specialty. Learning everything about the helm was probably where she would be focused first.

A call for questions was answered by the same Human male who had apparently spoken incorrectly about the fluffy one's name before! Or perhaps 'the smaller fluffy one' would be more appropriate, as she only just noticed in that moment that another larger fluffy one had arrived! This one was apparently an android. Or perhaps a robot? No, it had to be an android or a cyborg. The fluffy part wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Regardless, the Human was dissatisfied with secrets. At least, that is what she got out of his words. There were other words too that she didn't fully comprehend. Like xenophobic. And tits. Also something about the small rodent creatures she'd read about.

Mouse. This one has a proclivity towards animals. I must remember this!

A bowl of cereal had been left behind, placed for some reason or another at her feet. She crouched down, looking over the colorful morsels. After a few moments she recognized the smiling face, and this in turn brought a smile to her own face!

Perhaps he is trying to communicate with me? Pictures are a clever workaround to the language barrier! I should try them myself!

From behind her the Luanari's suit stretched outwards, adhering to the form of her thin tail which swept around and coiled against the bowl, lifting it off the ground as she straightened out. If she remembered correctly the proper thing to do when a Human departed was to wave towards them, and so she did just that towards the one who departed!

Right. Questions!

Her attention lifted up towards her new captain and, after a few moments of thinking up the proper words, she went ahead and tried to speak!

"Wot Capteen want Evee do?"