The Line in the Stars (IC) [PG/14]

[ShadesFox]

Medical

Aaron raises an eyebrow at Saioko, "Oh?  You're one of Washu's then?  I'm surprised you didn't try and rewrite captain into something more grandiose.  And she still has pictures of me?  I thought I burned them all, or at least I hope I got the important ones.  Either way, it is good to hear she is well.  And you work at reverse engineering xeno-tech?  Then you seem to be in the perfect place, especially if your talents caught the attention of Washu.  Don't worry about knowing that the ISIS reverse engineers xeno-tech.  It is one of the worst kept secrets in the galaxy."

Aaron turns to Knight, "All things considered, the grand tour can probably wait until you finished your shower and Capt. Natsume changes into something that fits her right.  Loki, can you show us where our new guests are assigned?  Then I'll need to update Capt. Summers regarding our expanded crew."

[Lisky]

Medical

Knight used all his focus to suppress a smirk as he looked over at Saioko, he thought 'i wonder what they're all thinking, seeing a female science officer wearing clothing that belongs to a male in a different chain of command... not that it would be inappropriate for such a relationship to exist, as it's 2 different chains of command and therefore completely in line with fleet regulations... but i suspect rumors will start circulating as to why we were actually in the pod together...'

looking back at Aaron, Knight said "thank you sir, i should be good to go with whatever you want me to by this time tomorrow"

[Lushin]

Medical
Romulus looked over his shoulder at Aaron when Saioko said what she did.
"Do we have another Nova on our hands?"
He then looked at Ben as he walked out the door. Again he spoke low.
"Keep an eye on them"

[techmaster-glitch]

Command Center

   Once again, Nazareth let out an exasperated sigh. "I thought I was connected to you..." He muttered before turning back to the controls, closing his eyes, and trying to get into Mother's thoughtstream. He managed to get a sense of what was going on in the cargo bay; Romulus and a security detail went to retrieve whoever was in the pod, which turned out to be a male and female officer. They were escorted to the medical ward, where both of them were checked over for injuries and other such routine things. Nazareth then pulled his attention away from that, opening his eyes again, but still remaining connected to Mother.
   Now, while he was certain he would get any of Mother's thoughts that she let him hear (he was no fool to think or expect that she would let him be privy to her whole mind), he still preferred to communicate verbally himself for the time being. "The fleet should probably know about this, they might be able to send a salvage team out here before any cutthroats strip it dry. We should start putting together a report, one that details us picking up the distress beacon and retrieval of the pod, only the stuff in my jurisdiction. We'll give that to Major Brown, as he is the ranking officer on this ship, and he'll probably put together his own account and send it off to the fleet. Start copying all the scan, recording, and coorinate data into an attachable file while I write...err-" Nazareth then realized, of course, he had no datapads or paper, but then thought that me might be able to compose a report anyway in his mind, using Mother as his 'datapad'. "-think, up a report to attach it to."
   While Mother did whatever she needed to do, Nazareth closed his eyes again and started imagining a few pages for a document, and began imagining the words to fill it with.

[Azlan]

Medical and Ship's hallways


Saioko nodded to Aaron, "yes, Washu kept a few of the group photos and the few of the projects you worked on.  She is the greatest scientific genius in the universe, so I uh... feel honored to have worked with her."

Ben nods to Romulus and dismisses the rest of his team.  The canine then stands respectfully back, providing escort from an appropriate distance.

Cynthia steps forward, her intent seemed to be to prevent Aaron and Loki from leaving, "now just a moment Aaron, Loki you are not cleared to leave, your injuries..."

A simple look from Loki stopped her and she stepped back, "well, do be careful... I will use a medical authority override if either of you end up back here again."

Loki flashed a mischievous grin as he nodded to Aaron's request, "we are not designed to accommodate so many people.  The soldiers are already bunked up together in a large area, I can't restructure it.  Nova will keep her room, so will Richard and everyone else.  My ship is designed to be comfortable and functional, but it is not a extra-spatial pocket... it has a fixed size and dimensions.  I can only make one more room, so if you consider the two of them and Marissa... it means the two of them are going to have to share a room and Marissa will have to stay in yours, Aaron.  I have to have Mother resize all the rooms just to make one more.  The galley area is already almost too small to fit everyone in it to eat."  Loki put his hands behind his head as he began escorting everyone to quarters, "you should know Aaron that I am not assigning rooms based on your ISF rank or authority structure, but those two should be fine in a room together, if you haven't noticed she is wearing his clothes."

Saioko blushed with a fiery red as she tried to sputter out words in her defense, "I... we... no... I just.... wasn't wearing any clothes when we got together in the pod... uh, no that came out wrong..."



Command Center


"aye aye sir."  Mother replied with a smile and she began the tasks assigned.  "Nazareth, I have a psychic network construct... I guess you could call it... in which all psionically aware systems are online.  It is like the virtual constructs of the Internet back in your home space, except we are using Acadia technology and our computer systems are aware.  You can access it externally like you are now and project your thoughts to the reports or you can enter the construct through the immersion interface and interact 'physically' as a mental avatar.  There you can write reports and do anything you could normally with the environment."

She reviewed the data and frowned, "most of the advanced materials are resisting my scans, it is made from something more advanced than I am, but the systems seem poorly integrated and implemented.  The ship was roughly my size and from the equipment wreckage, it held 8 LAMs of unknown design.  No fighters and two small shuttles.  There is not enough left of the LAMs to analyze, and I cannot locate any remains of a computer core.  No significant organic remains have been located, and only the pod we picked up remains.  It is possible that all crew survived the incident."

The rest of the technical data she added to the data report, which she forwarded to Aaron's attention via ship's electronic mail system.

The vixen then turned to Nazareth, "all fighters have been retrieved, shall we engage our original course?"

[Lisky]

knight chuckled at the little fox's comment, then said "i think that'll be fine for now... so, lead on and i'll be ready for the tour as soon as i get out of the shower... " he had a big grin on his face when he added "by the way, Loki, your the first person to actually mention something on that particular subject... try not to spread too many rumors around, ok?"

he waited for the tour, and a chance to get settled into his room, maybe get a few minutes to work out what had actually happened with Saioko, and lastly, take a long shower...

[Azlan]

Ship's hallway

Loki laughed, "the ship herself is aware of our conversation, all the AIs are psychically linked... you don't have to worry about gossip from our end, just everyone else."

Within a few moments of walking, they passed through the quarters section until they reached a new door.  It sat right across from the one which was labeled Aaron.  It listed both Saioko and Knight as being in residence.

Opening the door, Loki ushered everyone in, "it has two beds at the moment, but we can always do a single one if you want.  The bathroom is private and has a separate shower area, so one can shower and not worry about another person using the facilities.  The pile of clothes on the bed is a few replicated uniforms with appropriate markings and some modest casual clothing." 

[Lisky]

Knight/Saioko Quarters

Knight looked around at his new quarters, it seemed far roomier than the berth on his last ship, but he also had a roommate, which would probably end up making everything seem far smaller than they were... but, this was the navy, and with space at a premium aboard any ship, he figured he'd enjoy the extra personal space whenever possible.  looking at Loki, Knight said, "this setup will work out fine for now, any chance we could get a little privacy before we continue the tour... i think a hot shower will do wonders for both my mind and body...it'll also make the tour all the more effective"

[ShadesFox]

Hallway

Aaron giggled a bit, "I was trying not to comment on such subjects.  All I have to say is that, being with out cloths in the escape pod, implies that she entered sans clothing too.  Knight, you dog you."

He grins mischievously, "Anyways, do as you wish, take a shower and get dressed for the tour.  I'm going to send a report regarding this incident then I'm going to check on a few of the others in medbay before our tour.  Let's meet up in two hours, that should give you time for your shower, get dressed and slash or 'spend quality time in the escape pod' as you wish.  Loki, if you would please come with me."

After establishing that he too could compose sentences full of horrible he goes into his room with Loki to write up his report.  He puts Cynthia's report from the crew meeting aside and read through the report he got from Naz.  After he was satified with all the information he write up his report.

***
Captain Summers, something interesting has occurred.  During exercises to familiarize CWO Duke with the new ship we located and retrieved an escape pod.  On board was a 2nd Lieutenant Eric Whitehaven of the ISIS and Captain Saioko Natsume of ISF Army R&D.  They say that they were on their way to link up with the fleet and their ship was attacked.  Wreckage was found in the area, a detailed report on the wreckage is attached.  With your permission I would like to continue with the mission as planned, two crew members heavier.

Major Aaron Brown
***

He attached the document authored by Naz and Mother and sent it along.  He may have thought to ask more questions regarding what blew up their ship, or the fact that there was no one else there, or the fact that Loki said Marissa was going to be staying in his room, but Aaron's mind was heavy with other thoughts.  Not the least of which was that Aaron was now seeing things he never saw before.  Not necessarily anything that was hidden, but it seemed like he was seeing more and seeing it clearly. 

He also thought of what Ixiah told him, "now you understand, now you are like us."  This brought a warm and happy feeling, but what would come of it?  Is he Acadian?  Well, his answer to that is yes, but what would the ISF think?  He was sure that he would still the same person, whether he understood everything or understood nothing.  Such might not be reassuring to the chain of command.

Loki chimes in, having listened in on Aaron's thought process, "On the subject of what you are seeing, your mind changed. I'm not sure how to put it other then to say that you think better now.  The anthro mind is limited, it discards a vast amount of information to cope with the sheer volume of information it gets.  Your mind is moving away from that, keeping up with more and more input.  You will find that you perceive more then you did previously.  This is an exciting step!  Soon you should have the excess mental capacity needed to develop your latent talents.  Though I... can't help you on your chain of command..."

Loki looked sad.  In this exciting time for Aaron, he was not going to be able to help Aaron understand where he fits in.  As Richard put it, Aaron's maturity in the heart was greater then his own.  This problem was Aaron's alone to deal with.  At least it looked like Aaron could put it off for a while.

[Lisky]

knight/saioko Quarters

knight raised a hand as if to protest, then thought for a second, and decided to try another approach, hand still in the air, and with a slightly flustered look on his face, he silently took a step back, then closed the door.
turning to saioko he said with as serious a tone as he could manage, despite every urge to break out laughing "uhh... sorry about all that... i was kinda hoping people wouldn't notice...  but now that we've been established as a couple, that does take a few problems out of the way... such as you having to worry about, or deal with guys hitting on you for now... anyways, i was serious about that shower... soo... we can talk things over in a little bit"

while talking, knight had moved over to the bed, and grabbed a clean uniform.  He dropped into the bathroom, closed the door, and started the hot water...

[Azlan]

Aaron's room


At some point, Ixiah had slipped into the room with the other two vulpines and dropped heavily down onto Aaron's bed.  The blue fox had at some point changed into pajamas, a strange outfit covered in kanji and odd mystical symbols.

Loki raised an eye towards his cousin's choice of dress,"why are you..."

Ixiah interrupted before Loki could finish the thought, "sleep over!"

"I gave you your own room you fuzzy twit."  Loki shot back as he grabbed Ix by the scruff of his neck.

Ixiah squirmed away, "nooo, someone has to watch Aaron.  He might wander off astrally and get his brain sucked out."

Loki pounced on Ixiah, "Mother can monitor him..."

"She's too busy playing with Naz."  Ix tried to squirm away.

At this point the two foxes decided to settle this by a duel of tickling.  Making peace and quiet a near impossibility for Aaron to achieve.



Knight/Saioko Quarters


Saioko followed into the bathroom area, leaning against the sink counter near the door, "do you think I over did it with my personality routine?  The large store house of data on anthro interactions I have possesses many examples of females, this behavior seemed one of the most common that I have observed."

[Lisky]

Knight/Saioko Quarters

Knight hadn't noticed Saioko come into the bathroom, and already had his uniform off... when he heard the voice from behind him, he jumped a good distance in the air while spinning 180 degrees in record time. 

after taking a second to calm himself down, he slowed his breathing, made sure he was behind the partition, and starting talking in normal tones "i wounldn't worry too much about the personality... though adding a little bit more confidence as the we establish ourselves among the ship wouldn't hurt... just keep in mind the subjects that have been talked about and your reactions to them.  You obviously enjoy talking about Washu... keep that consistent.  You also seem to shy away from discussions on sexuality, so, keep that up as well... If your going to keep the somewhat bubbly personality you seem to be projecting, it'd be great if you could try and avoid the subject in a positive light... so, if someone brings you and me as a couple up, just say something with a bit of a grin like 'i feel what happens between two off duty personnel that doesn't effect the runnings of this ship, should stay between just those involved'..."

He kept every ounce of the awkwardness of the situation out of his voice as he continued "you know, conversations like this in the future could wait until i'm in a slightly less... exposed position"

[ShadesFox]

Aaron's room

Now Aaron's train of thought was thoroughly off the tracks.  He seemed to be getting popular with the little ones.  He might be getting a second roommate, first Marissa now Ixiah.  At this point the train that was off the track and running wild now slammed into a hydrocarbon plant.

"LOKI, you put Marissa in the same room as me."
Ixiah and Loki were in an amusing position with a paw on each other's face, "About time you registered that."
Ixiah giggled, "Loki, you are so mean."
"It's not my fault Aaron was so slow on the pickup!  Plus, she has a crush on him and he has a crush on her, they would go well together!"
"That is not the point."
Loki smirks, "Sheesh Mr. Grump, no need to be like that."
Aaron sighs, "Look, all I'm saying is that if Ixiah and Marissa can change spots..."

Aaron was composing something about dignity and the fact that he isn't that sort of fox, but didn't get far before Loki and Ixiah decided that Mr. Grump needed to be tickled.  Aaron tried to escape but the little foxes had him .  It did not take long before everyone involved was exhausted and there was a large pile of napping foxes.

[Azlan]

Saioko/Knight Quarters


Saioko stared in a confused fashion towards Knight, "what do you mean Eric?  Is there something wrong with me seeing you without clothes?"  She continued with a shrug, "if you are so worried, close the door from the shower area to the bathroom proper.  There is one you know.  As for personality trends, I am storing the patterns in memory.  Most of it was spontaneously generated, it seems that I adapted as the situation demanded it... I'm a rather advanced AI it seems, even I did not know I could do that.  Anyways Eric, finish your shower and then come to bed.  I will be waiting."

Saioko slipped out of the bathroom and into the main living area.  At this point she realized what she said and how it sounded.  She blushed and flopped down on the bed, she pondered why this shape caused her to need to do things like sleep.

[Lisky]

Knight/Saioko Quarters

Knight took his shower, clearing his mind, and reminding him of the fatigue he'd been ignoring... drying off then throwing on a clean uniform, he figured a little cat nap couldn't hurt.  Setting an alarm to go off 10 minutes before his tour, he silently walked into the room, hopped onto his bed, and tried to catch some rest.

[techmaster-glitch]

"All fighters have been retrieved, shall we engage our original course?"

Command Center

   "Affirmative. Unless we get a reply back from the commander of the fleet saying that safeguarding this wreckage replaces the priority of our current mission, there is nothing else here we can do. Reeengage previous course settings."
   Nazareth leaned back in his chair, ciomfortably immersing himself in Mother's mindlink.

[Azlan]

Inari class cruiser Revelation

Captain Summers reviewed the reports and stroked his chin, "communications send acknowledgment to Major Brown and advise him to continue his mission.  Inform all ships we will be jumping to the wreckage location before we engage our next objective point."

With that, preparations were made and the fleet jumped out.


A small craft, a metallic and mottled gray in color, flew in the opposite direction from where the fleet had departed. 

A calm and proper male voice spoke. the accent was reminiscent of english 'received pronunciation', "Sensors indicate the signal is still strong, I was rather apprehensive about using Darkshasa technology within my own, but it seems to be quite good.  It is a shame about the Cold Fire"

Within the command chair, a very foxish coyote sat.  He held his hands together forming a pyramid, "I was hoping to link up with them and integrate you into the control system.  The AI built off of Darkshasa ship cores is rather unreliable, Professor Washu could never design an AI without glaring personality flaws... and Saio-oki is no different.  However, some unknown force has destroyed her.  Let us concentrate on following our little foxes.  Anjin, best possible speed and keep cloaked."

"Yes Yuri, I will make it so."



The ship called Mother


The go ahead was received from the fleet to proceed, it appeared they would be arriving to investigate the issue themselves.

Captain Summers replied back to Aaron's report with temporary duty assignments for Knight and Saioko, both checked out with ISF Command.  There was a note attached that Captain Natsume's records had to be personally verified by Professor Washu Habuki, because they could not initially locate them, but it was just a programming clerical error and the file was found after Washu's verification.  Both files were attached.

Knight and Saioko are eventually given their tour.  Saioko is especially curious and is happy to meet everyone, though she seems to have a slight bit of friction with Nova.  Something about Saioko also seems to bother Mother, but she doesn't speak about it.

Because he is special forces, and there is not much else that can be done with him, Knight is placed in administrative control of the Special Forces teams.  Knight is expected to be in "command", but is expected to defer to Romulus's significantly higher experience in combat.

All of the Scales, and Knight as well, are given emergency piloting training for Mother, in case Nazareth is not present or unable to pilot or the controlling AI, Mother, is "incapacitated".

Aaron receives a bit of instruction in basic psychic techniques by Loki and Ixiah, allowing him to slowly withdraw his empathic link with Marissa.  She is quickly in acceptable enough of a condition to be up and about on her own for short amounts of time.

Nova is given a light duty chit and improves her condition with rest, to the point she is released from medical watch and pretty much fully healed.  Mara has a few discussions with Alexis over AI training, and receives a little bit, but the jump to their destination is not long enough for full instruction.

Otherwise the jump is uneventful and in a few days, they arrive in system.  The solar system contains a binary star, a large red giant and a smaller white star.  Six earth-sized planets exist, with only the third and fourth suitable for anthro and human life unassisted, and four massive gas giants lie in the outer reaches of the solar system.  A final white dwarf orbits far out in the eleventh position with a regular orbit tilted 25 degrees off the plane of the elliptic.  The third planet is their destination, the only problem is that this particular system has become something of a pirate controlled area with a significant colony on the fourth planet.

A squadron of four ancient battleships comprise the pirate fleet, with at least six Altara class cruisers (the same pirate cruisers encountered in Loki's pirate fleet) supporting them.  There is one civilian type space station in orbit around the fourth planet.

The system defenses and ships have not noticed Mother at the edge of the solar system.     

[Prof B Hunnydew]

[bIIn dark corners, [/b] Mara has taken to her lessons and her lessons to play, as she tries sneaking around the ship and pounce on Alexis.  Alexis plays along letting the foxkitten think that she is undetected, but then bats the kittling across the room.   Mother see that Mara does keep to herself from effect the ship, but she show the little AI, where she has left a mess trail through the corridors, and she makes her clean it up.  After this, Alexis promises to give Mara a controlled/isolated area to play tag with her, but

The ship has just jump in the system.

Loki's Mother ship, Engineering.
Nova has decided to leave her quarter/bed of good and wanders about the ship into Main Engineering. This is it, the one place, she has been dying to be since seeing this ship.  "Why did she take so long to go here.? " She stays by the door as she takes in the wonders, she has only dream of seeing again.  The main drives, and the engine room, it is all as she remembers and different from the her days on Matron's engine room.  She stands listening to the song of the ship, and the feel of the ship's pur. She has never been as happy and compete, as now. "Yea, this one is full functional." 

PBH

[techmaster-glitch]

Command Center

   Over the last few days, the Crusading Scales had been mostly taking time off, when they weren't going through the training for emergency piloting procedures with Mother. The Scales did a little exploring around Mother, meeting the other members of the expedition and getting to know them, though Nazareth never seemed to be with them. In fact, he hardly left his personal office/quarters in the Zeta barracks, doing Mother-knows-what as the hours passed.
   On the last day, Nazareth was in his chair in the Command center in preparation for the final jump. It was made with without event, and the new system came into view as Nazareth absorbed Mother's sensor data through their mindlink. As he saw the ships around the foruth planet, he opened up a comm to the Zetas, ordering them to their fighters to prepare for possible launch. He then toggled an intercomm directly to Aaron.
   "Major Brown, this is Warrant Officer Duke, priority alert. We have entered the destination star system. Your objective is on third planet. However, the fourth appears to be colonized, with what looks to be a pirate fleet guarding it, though we have not obtained positive identification yet. Their fleet consists of at least four battleships and six cruisers, all outdated. They do not seem to have noticed us. There is also a space station orbiting the fourth planet, civillian-class. What are your orders, sir?"

[Lisky]

Special Forces Area

Before the jump, knight was in the special forces barracks getting introduced to those who would be serving under him in the best way he knew how, martial arts sparring...

The Feline looked to be almost frail with his tall and slender frame, and that led to the misconception that he was a pushover when compared to the ground pounders... especially in hand to hand combat.
Those he managed to coax into a bout would soon find themselves planted on the floor.  the reoccurring assessment, "he's just too fast" and "nobody should be able to move like that"

although fighting hand to hand did earn him a little respect, he knew he'd be deferring almost all orders over to Romulus... knight thought speaking of Romulus, i've had almost 0 face time with the man, and i'm supposed to be his commanding officer... this is something that will have to be rectified...

The ship jumped into the system as Knight was preparing his search for Rom, having lost all track of time with his one on one introductions to his men.  He felt the transition, although subtly, and decided he'd better find Aaron first so he could get some idea of what he'd be doing once they reached the objective. 

Knight walked down the halls in ignorant bliss, trying to imagine what he'd be useful for in the upcoming mission...

[ShadesFox]

Second hallway on the left

At least this time the complications were fairly mundane.  It was, however, outside of Aaron's realm of experience.  His first instinct was to leave well enough alone, try and sneak in to setup shop, looking for what they came to find, then haul it out of there.  The definition of 'it' in the previous sentence is highly dependent on how far wrong things go.  

Aaron favored sneaking, involved less getting shot and and less shooting at things.  While mother indicated that she could take ISF cruisers, ISF cruisers also did not tackle war ships (even out of date ones) just for giggles.  Plus, Capt. Summer's orders did say to avoid pirate engagements.

He sends a message to Naz's mind directly, "I'm favoring sneaking.  We wouldn't want Mother's sophisticated cloaking tech to go to waste would we?  On a more serious note, my order state that we are to avoid contact with pirates, and these order seem full of wisdom.  The impression Mother gives me is that, while full of advanced tech, she is not invincible.  I'll send a message to summers advising him of the situation."

Aaron heads back to his room and makes good on his thread to send a message to the Captain, filling him in on the situation with the system and the pirates and informing him that they would try sneaking to the 3rd planet and avoiding pirates as per his orders to avoid engagements.

((OOC: I'm assuming Aaron has this power, to send messages to people his knows in close proximity.  A little bit of guidance about what Aaron can and can't do would be appreciated    And edited to include the last bit about avoiding pirates.  I meant to put that in, but revisions saw it removed  ))

[techmaster-glitch]

Command Center

   Nazareth was slightly surpised when Aaron's voice came over directly in his head, but he didn't let that slow him down, he now had work to do. He had Mother begin to engage all the stealth measures she had. Returning to Aaron, Nazareth also sent a mind-message. "Roger that. What are your contingency orders, if we fail to avoid detection?"

[ShadesFox]

Fifth hallway on the right

"Run like hell"

[techmaster-glitch]

Command Center

   The was a small, just a small, pause before Nazareth responded with a brief "Yes, sir.", and cut the connection. He "looked" at the readouts of the system in Mother's mindlink, and finally began issuing his plan to Mother.
   "If they haven't picked us up yet, the we obviously must be beyond the range of their sensors. I'd like to keep that for as long as possible, even with whatever stealth systems you posses. Of course, we'll have to close in some time to get to the third planet. Here's what we'll do; start by circumventing the system with our current distance and orbit. Once we reach a point where the third planet is interposed between us and the fourth planet, we'll move in. I'll count on their poor range and your stealth to keep us unnoticed until we get close enough that the planet itself an effective shield."
   He opened a link to the Zetas. "Men, you are on indefinite standby for the time being, but be ready to launch at any time should it become necessary."
   Nazareth refocused on mother herself in the link. "Do you have anything to add before we start?"

[Lisky]

Nondescript Hallway

Knight wandered about trying to find his commanding officer with no luck... either the man was a ninja, or he had the unique skill of moving at just the wrong time to be found. After giving up, Knight decided to head back to his quarters, and after a few mistakes, he finally made it.  Slightly disappointed in his lack of orders, slightly bruised from his workout in the special forces area, and still feeling a little disoriented with his whole situation, he decided to take a little time to just relax, and lay down and get everything floating around in his head sorted out...

[Lushin]

Nondescript Hallway
Romulus was waiting outside Knight's quarters. He was leaning up against the wall. He looked up at Kinght.
"Looking for someone?"

[Lisky]

Outside Knight's Quarters

Knight supressed every urge to sigh as he saw the Sargent... he thought to himself 'it's like these people knew i'm looking for them, yet remained hidden until they're damn well good and ready to see me'

He looked at the Wolverine and replied "well, you for one, and possibly Major Brown... i dunno, i've got a few questions about this upcoming mission, and i'd also like to get a little face time with the people i'll be working with... i'm going to level with you, although i'm officially leading the team... for all intents and purposes, your in command... "

Knight paused, took a slow breath, then continued, "if you've got any thoughts on what you want me doing, i'm all ears... right now, about all i can see myself doing is acting as another shooter... anyways, any chance you'd mind helping me find the major?"

[Lushin]

Outside Knight's Quarters
Romulus glared at Knight when he said he was in charge of the team now.
"Another gun is always goo"

[Lisky]

Outside Knight's Quarters

Knight caught the glare, and knew he'd probably be annoyed as well if someone dumped that kind of responsibility... so, to try and ease the tension before things might get ugly Knight nodded and replied, "look, i'm sorry to be asking to dump this kind of responsibility on you, but at the same time, i'm a pilot, and if this were a squadron of LAMs i'd be glad to take responsibility for the welfare of the team... under current circumstances, i'm playing a whole different game, and although qualified by training, i suspect that your experience as an infantryman outweighs my seniority... i'm not asking you to do this because i don't think i can handle the pressure... i'm asking because quite honestly, i don't want to get someone killed because  another officer, who could have done a better job, wasn't in position to do so because of rank and seniority... "

he paused then added "if your not happy about issuing the orders, i'll take the reigns and do my best... i owe it to the men to do at least that much... " he paused again, and a grin crept onto the feline's face, "and now, on a total tangent, any chance you'd know where i can find the major, navigating the halls on this ship makes interstellar astogation seem easy... i've got a few things i'd like to address him with personally..." Knight had started to get lost in his own thoughts, when something seemed to hit him as important "actually, maybe there is one other thing you can address. when i first arrived i had a very non-standard issue laser pistol that i left in the pod, any chance you'd know where i could get that back?"

[Lushin]

Outside Knight's Quarters
Romulus narrowed his eyes and looked square at Knight.
"Oh believe me those men are my team. You wouldn't be taking command. As for the major he's more than likely in his room dealing with the two "kids". They seem to really like him now"