Login

**Sombs** · 03-17-2023, 06:32 AM,

With the alert level lowered, the amount of people on the bridge was significantly lower. In fact, at this moment, it was only four - including the Captain. Sitting in his command chair, he bit into a freshly picked apple, making that iconic crunching sound as his pristine white teeth cut through the juicy deliciousness. The main screen showed the feeds from multiple Apahanta cameras as well as the feeds from the Rovers and the Apotheosis. Much to keep an eye on, but at the same time, the same feeds were watched from the people at the canteen, who currently enjoyed a regular breakfast. While Sherry sat next to him in her XO chair, one of the two bridge officers still remaining carefully approached the two, asking for permission to leave for breakfast. Ezrael nodded, smirking at her before taking another bite of the apple. The woman left the bridge, and while his eyes were focused on the main screen, Ezrael poked Sherry's side with his empty hand.

"You should go and get some breakfast, too," he said, only eyeing her for a less than a second before returning his gaze to the feeds.

"I can drink my coffee here," she replied in her natural neutral way.

"It wouldn't be the same if you weren't there, silently observing while everyone else talks about inappropriate topics." He smirked at her in a smug way. "Come on, you always say it boosts morale when command shares meals with the crew. And I'm certainly not leaving the bridge now. So that leaves that responsibility to you, Commander," Ezrael explained before taking another audible bite.

Sighing quietly, she glared at him for a moment. It was subtle, but there was a hint of a smile. Ezrael had mastered the art of detecting traces of emotions in Sherry's expressions over the years. After all, it had been about eight years now since they met on Durban Station's bar. Standing up, she gave the main screen a final approving look and then left with the same coffee mug she already had back during those days with the Core, however not without commenting "I'll be back in an hour, then. Try not to make a mess."

"Not before dinner," Ezrael merely returned as she headed for the hallway. And with that, it was only him and Becky on bridge. The woman with the dyed shining white hair had her feet on her workstation, a glass of fruit juice with a straw in her hand and her eyes glued to her display, showing the journey of the Handsome Rover through the unique forest of what looked like naturally formed asteroid mesas. The Apahanta itself was closing in on the location, passing first rocks.

The headphones around her neck played a pop song, something one would hear in the clubs and dance to but not pay attention to the lyrics - simply because they weren't english. Becky quietly moved to the rhythm, nodding her head slightly while her feet shook ever so slightly back and forth, sometimes completely off-beat, but that was something she didn't care about. Sometimes she hummed with the melody without noticing, however, the results of that would become obvious to her as she realized Ezrael was approaching. The lean curacaoan man stopped next to her console and leaned against the wall, smirking at her. "What are you listening to?"

"Uh", she replied in an outburst of eloquence, taking her feet off the console to sit a bit more appropriately, "nothing interesting." Obviously, the answer was not very satisfying, so Ezrael gave her a lopsided look, encouraging her to go on anyway. "It's a woman called Lyzia Ivanova. No idea what the title is, it's in coalition letters," she explained. "In fact, I have no idea what she's singing about. I like the tune, though," she explained.

"Well, since it's just you and me here, why don't you put it on the speakers?" he proposed, smiling gently at her.

"Uhm, okay." She leaned forward to grab her PDA from the workstation and connected it to the bridge speakers. For a moment, the music turned quiet, just to restart from the beginning, now audible all over the bridge. Becky didn't really know how to feel about it, blushing slightly. It wasn't visible with the rather limited lighting in the CIC. About a minute passed as Ezrael and her listened to the song. She kept her eyes glued to the display, not too sure about how to feel about sharing music with the Captain.

"It's a song about jealousy," Ezrael explained, surprising her with that statement. "She's singing about someone she loves, how her palms get sweaty just looking at him, but in the refrain she complains about him being in love with another woman."

"She sounds bittersweet, yeah," Becky figured from the sound of her voice and the way the melody was both sad and encouraging, while obviously being a dance mix, so the bass hit hard. "I didn't know you know that language."

"Just a little bit, really," he admitted. "Before you joined the crew, the Apahanta saved a Coalition Destroyer in Omicron Delta from Nomads. I don't remember the name from the top of my head, but it was the ship commanded by Katya Pimakhova, a friend of ours since that day. Beautiful woman, a credit to her people, really. Had a nasty habit of non-stop smoking cigars, and her voice reflected that." He chuckled. "Mishtar Vertiga. That's how she addressed me, even in private."

Becky smacked her lips for a moment. "You laid her?"

"No, although she made very clear she was interested," he clarified. "I don't know the full context, but she was on the run from the Coalition and hid in Coronado. She had a room on Barrier Gate, where I visited her. I offered her a place to stay on the Hoffnungsschimmer, and she was with us for a while, but I guess that was not really a fulfilling solution to her, so she left at some point. I never heard of her again."

The next song began to play. "Huh. Quite the story. Do you think she is still out there?" she asked him.

"I'd like to think she is," Ezrael said quietly, his expression not subtly hinting at his doubts. "A strong woman, both physically and in the way she acted. But Sirius isn't known for being a rather merciful place."

"I see," Becky sounded quietly, leaning back in her chair. "And here I thought this would be another Captain Handsome story," she added, smiling at him.

That was a blast from the past, Ezrael thought, giving her a curious look. "It's been a while since someone called me that." In fact, it was mostly Maren referring to him as that, to the best of his knowledge.

Noticing his sudden change of demeanor, she cleared her throat - the apple juice caused it to feel a bit slimy. "I-I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't, don't worry. Just didn't expect to hear that after years." He frowned, staring at the main screen. The tune about the song about jealousy was still in his head despite a completely different song playing now. "Is everything alright with you? You seem a bit distracted lately. You're more sovereign, usually."

She gave him a surprised stare. "Uhm," she began, stammering, "I think I'm alright? Yeah?"

"I remember how you joined us," Ezrael said, smirking charmingly at her. "A huge misunderstanding, but damn, you were convincing. I was really impressed that day."

"That was..." she began with a bit of discomfort and embarrassment, "... I felt incredibly stupid when I realized it was not a casting. Honestly, I still feel like an idiot about it." She hid her face with her empty hand, trying to avert his charming smirk.

"Don't," Ezrael said, stepping closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. "First of all, it was great. But that's not why I hired you. Merely a, honestly funny, coincidence. What I admired was your dedication. You wanted that job, and you were willing to do anything to get it. I mean, it was mostly a personality check, given the information Abs gave me about you were speaking for themselves. An intelligent woman with experience in piloting, a basic combat training, upper level education and a training in accounting, and definitely one of the coolest models Hot Gear ever had."

"I never finished the training," she clarified, revealing her face again as she held the glass of apple juice with both hands, "Working as a model, and uh, performer, was something I did to get the credits to finance everything. And then Paige hired me for Hot Gear, and then one thing lead to another and now I am here."

Letting go of her shoulder, he gave her a wide, gentle smile. "And I'm very happy that you are here!"

"Thanks," she said quietly, his smile turning out to be contagious. "It's nice to hear that."

"It's nice to be able to say that," he assured her, looking back at the main screen. He narrowed his eyes.

"Like, seriously," she said quietly, smiling gently. "I always felt weird about this misunderstanding, but this makes me feel a lot better."

"What the hell is that?" Ezrael said, not paying attention to her but to the main screen. "Becky, get the Rover closer to that!"

Taken out of her train of thought, she looked at the main screen, not noticing what he was referring to. "Where?"

"There!" He pointed at something red blinking in the far distance, barely visible in the dust clouds surrounding them. "The red dot! Zoom in on that!"

She leaned forward to look at the display of the workstation console. Doing as he commanded, she zoomed in on the area he pointed at. After a few seconds, she noticed it, too. There was a silhouette.

"No... no, no, no... nononono, that's impossible. The fuck... this is impossible... That's not good... fuck!"

Ezrael's sudden reaction was unsettling. It was almost like he was panicking. "What is that?"

"It looks like a Harvester," he said, walking away from her, closer to the main screen, raking his fingers through his thick black hair in disbelief. "That's a fucking Harvester, an AI Cruiser! Fuck!"

Uncharted System Stories: 18 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 85

Templates: Character | Transmissions

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me