Long haul flight

Posted on Sat Feb 13th, 2021 @ 8:14am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander S'hib

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Acheron
Timeline: MD -6 0200
2150 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Everything was quiet aboard the Acheron, nothing but the gentle hum and subtle turbulence of warp travel teasing the very limits of Sequellian hearing. Though if he could hear anything it didn't bother him, sitting quietly in the dark on the solitary couch that sat at the utmost rear of the craft. His book, long since fallen out of his hands lay slumped on its side beside him as he slept.

Though sleep would have been an overstatement, for Sequus like S'hib, sleeping for more than a few hours at a time was practically impossible, still, he sat there quietly, eyes closed and drifting in and out of dreams as his ears flicked to a new sound.

It was the subtle hiss of a door sliding open, and then closed again, a figure in a long electric blue nightgown and pink hair in mussed bunches tiptoed slowly up to the cockpit, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. There she skipped into the pilots seat, pulling her feet up to tuck under herself.

"Hm?" S'hib mumbled as he looked up, seeing a brief flicker of light as the cockpit door shut. Blinking slowly, he reorientating himself to reality before repositioned his book, his jaw slowly opening to let out a lazy and drawn out yawn. "Wonder who's up..." He said softly to himself as he raised off of the couch and clicked quietly past the desk and table, down the hallway and into the cockpit.

There he spotted the telltale pink hair and knew instantly who it was before waiting until the door hissed shut behind him. "You know, the autopilot is more than capable..." He teased, not really moving any further forward.

"Wha?" She turned, eyes still clouded with sleep, then yawned. "It's not the pilot. there was a twitch in the ship. It woke me up."

"I think I heard that too, then again it might have been you I heard." He mused, moving across the increasingly smaller cockpit before taking a seat beside her, his eyes glazing over the readouts.

"We went through a patch of space with a high density of organic molecules. It happens occasionally, and you get some in the bussard collectors. Its perfectly normal, but if you know what too look for." She reached out and ran a hand along the console. "She got her drink spiked, thats all."

"You know, when I first met you, skulking around the Elysiums nacelles with nothing on your feet... I didn't quite know what to make of you, and to be honest... I still don't..." He admitted, watching her stroke the console with genuine affection.

"But, maybe I'm not supposed too... not that it would change much even if I did," He said softly, turning to face her even as she stared off into the stars. "Wanna know why?" he added with a gentle snort, shifting his weight in his seat so as to face her more.

"Alright, I'll bite," she smiled

"It wouldn't change much, because I'd still like you..." He smiled, slowly blinking before turning once again in his seat, reaching up to adjust the temperature controls inside the cockpit.

Miraj blushed a little bit and looked away. "I'm glad you're my friend, S'hib." she pulled the blanket around her shoulders a little tighter. "I know I'm not everyone's cup of tea."

"No..." He said in agreement, a slight hint of amusement to his voice as he increased the temperature by a few degrees. "But would you want to be?" He asked with so much conviction in his voice his question boarded on rhetoric. "With a mane like yours on Sequella, there would be queues forming." He chuckled, idly glancing at the panel to his right, making a note of the system readouts.

She looked at him blankly. "For what?"

A bemused smile crept onto his face as he went to speak several times, his lips moving without saying a single word, unable to think of a way of breaking it to the poor girl. Instead, he simply reached across with his left arm, trailing the very tips of his hoofed digits onto the back of her head.

"How's the Acheron doing," He asked, changing the subject while gently stroking her hair as she had the console. "Think she's calm enough to let you sleep... or is it a he? I can't tell... how do you tell."

"She's a she. And you tell by ... just being quiet and letting them tell you. Just let yourself go and feel whats around you. its not hard. You just... sink into everything around you. Most Planetia Utopia ships are girls, but not all. The Baton Rouge, the Prudence and the Majestic are boys. And they're not the only ones out there. And other shipyards produce different results. Cort is mostly girls, as is Trill and Bajor. And the Klingons. I've been in two birds of prey, and they both radiated vicious bitch energy. But that could have been because they were both hurting really bad.
"Tellerite ships don't have gender at all. They're proud of being machines and don't stoop to anything so... organic. Vulcan ships are quite sweet. They know its illogical for a ship to have a gender, but they also know that their non-vulcan passengers, and sometimes even their vulcan ones like to athropomope, no anthropomorphise vessels, so they often pick what makes their complement happy. Needs of the many and all that. So they pick and choose and change. A lot. And Andorian ships are.. confusing. They have four genders, and that took a lot of getting used to."

“What about older ships?” He asked, enthralled by her view of the universe... wondering if this gift of hers was simply a one off. “Or shuttles...” He blurted out, still stroking the back of her head with his oversized hand, careful not to press against her skin too hard. “Are they independent beings or do they behave like children to whatever craft carries them? like the Archeron for example?”

She moved his hand gently. "I've not really thought about it." She rubbed his fingers in her own. "Archeron feels like her own person. But runabouts were always meant to be independent. Next time I'm in a shuttle I'll have to ask them."

"You should write a little, uh, I dunno... like a biography of every ship you meet..." He replied, stumbling over his words as if unsure of what he was suggesting. "I'm sure engineering would be fascinated to learn if certain things they did helped the Elysiums mood for example..."

He paused for a moment, simply staring at her hand in his, her petite features dwarfed by his simplistic and brutish physiology. "You warm enough by the way?" He asked, oblivious to the irony of the question when he was the one wearing nothing more than a few layers of fabric around his waist, the only thing remotely tying him to the same time period as she being his comm badge, neatly pinned to his belt.

"I'm fine. Aren't you cold?" She was carefully not looking at his state of near nakedness. Her own nightdress covered her from chin to toes, and was covered by a blanket to boot. She wasn't worried about the temperature.

"Me? no... I got used to the cold living on earth, besides, I run hot anyway." He said softly, glancing back to Miraj and the marshmallow she had turned herself into. "Want me to leave? I can turn the lights out and let you and the Archeron get some rest." He asked, squeezing her hand gently.

"I'll go back to bed in a bit. The organic molecules are out of the system anyway. It really was just a boozy hiccup." She tipped her head against his arm. "Unless you still need company."

"I'd be a fool to say no." He replied quietly, content in his place in the universe as he leant down and nudged the tip of his muzzle over her head, snorting gently and blowing a few loose strands of pink hair free from the confines of her blanket.

"Your head is heavy," she said fondly, reaching back to pat his shoulder. "Missing Colonel Azhul?"

"Always..." He mumbled into the blanket, lifting his weight off of her somewhat. "Especially being so far away... and there isn't exactly much to do to preoccupy my thoughts." He admitted, swallowing a lump that had formed in his long throat.

"I can lend you a Bloodbeard book?" I've got them on the padd in my bunk." His mane fell across her shoulder and she instinctively started twirling it around her fingers the way she did with her own bunches. "They always sweep me away. "

"And spoil the story?" He chuckled, leaning his head over to one side to let her fingers reach more of his mane.

"Well if you stick to the early ones, you might get a better idea of what's happening. Find about Mr Sabatini's sweetheart; Staines life as an able seaman in the Royal Navy; see why Viscount De'Ath is such a dangerous blackguard that you should avoid like the plague." She sighed, and not in a way that would give anyone confidence that she disliked the character.

"I don't think I'd have much idea what was happening even if I did read them, the whole concept is fantasy to me... never had pirates or giant wooden boats on Sequella... coastline is too shallow to allow it, you could swim out for miles and never be more than thirty feet from the coral below." He mumbled, rambling on when his ears perked to the sound of the Archeron deploying another sensor buoy.

"There it goes," there was a brief flare in the streak of lights as the buoy fell out of warp. Miraj checked the instruments. "Retro's fired, it's at a dead stop and in position. I doubt anything more interesting is going to happen tonight."

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather things stay boring for a while." He smiled, leaning down once more and pulling her closer with his stubborn Sequus strength before placing his forehead against the side of her head.

"urrg, mostly human!" she squeaked out the reminder as he crushed her into a hug. "You want boring?

"Had far too many interesting things happen to those I care about." He snorted nudging affectionately at her cheek before sitting back up and leaning back into his seat. "No more adventures unless they're on the holodeck." He proclaimed, crossing his arms as if giving fate and Miraj an order.

"Yes, sir!" she gave him a salute and a cheeky grin. "Does this mean I can get you back in the floofy dress?"

"Only if you dance with me, those other characters were insufferable." He snorted with a heavy set frown.

Miraj laughed. "You'll get your feet crushed. I can't get the timing right"

"If you haven't noticed..." He grinned, lifting his right leg over his left and wiggling a giant hoof at her. "I don't have any toes."

Miraj chuckled. "Well, it's at your own risk then. Don't say I didn't warn you. You may be begging for Viscount De'Ath for a partner by the end."

"We could always practice beforehand, help you get the timing right." He smiled, leaning around in his seat to glance at another console.

This time Miraj laughed. "I'm good, really. I don't need to dance that often. But any time you want to put on the dress..." she dissolved into giggles, then slapped a hand over her mouth so she didn't wake the rest of the crew.

His nostrils flared wildly as he let out a grumpy snort, lips twitching as he muttered to himself in native Sequus. "For that, I'm taking you to Sequella... then we will see whos laughing." He grinned, knowing full well how she would react on a planet like his.

Her giggles stopped and her the blush roared back to his cheeks at the very thought. "I think I can cope without the dress." She got up, ready to go back to sleep. "G'night."

His hand reached out for a moment, selfishly wanting more of her company before falling to his lap and balling into a half fist. "Sleep well... I'll monitor the deflector, make sure the Archeron doesn't wake you again." he said softly, already turning his attention to the controls.

She threw her arms around him, the sort of bear hugs she'd wrap her brother up in whenever he'd spoilt her with some new pirate memorabilia or trinket. "See you in the morning," she said with one last squeeze, and padded off silently to her bunk.

He watched her leave, a smile on his face as the door hissed close. "Computer, decrease light levels by eighty percent." He sighed, sitting back in his seat before closing his eyes.

[FIN]