Upon Celestial Tiger: Chapter One

First topic message reminder :

A small, fast space yacht. The last owner named it Celestial Tiger.

Three small bedrooms (with bunks), one bathroom. Very small storage hold. combined dining/living area. Everyone's going to hate each other by the end of this road trip.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/46/08/46/small_10.jpg

Shane smiled and went back to take his seat once Luka had the path set.

Tala didn't slap Luka's shoulder, because you shouldn't do that to the pilot. She slapped a wall instead. "Onward!" she proclaimed. "I must conclude my rest while we travel!"

Luka flinched at the sudden wall slapping. "Of course Captain." She nodded and focused on the course.

Tala wiggled her ears slightly at Luka's flinch, then ambled off to bed. "Alert me if things require my attention!" she called.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody had been beaten for waking up the captain! Well that was a first.

The message ended up arriving days after Mourn had sent it, pinging the Tiger's central com terminal.

(AKA the Tiger is currently ahead of Vestia by at least a few days and the message can't be retconned in, haha)

Luka picked up the message, confused at first as to why some random station was messaging them. for a dreadful moment she wondered if the pirates were demanding their dragon back.
"Uh.. Captain?" She called. "We have a message!"

Tala happened to be awake by the time the message arrived, thank goodness. She ambled over to look into the cockpit. "Read it aloud so we may know what is within it!" She said.

The message would be a greeting from James and Skye, a very vague explanation that Mourn had done something sneaky to make the message possible, and then small notes from almost everyone on Vestia, most of the messages being very nice and friendly. Esk's was, of course, the message about how they should try not to kill each other because he still needed his paycheck.

Luka smiled at the messages. Well, at least everyone was okay. Esk had to be fine, he had the energy to be a dick. It was reassuring to know Dawn was okay as well, she'd been worried about her friend.

She read each message aloud, chuckling a little. "We should let everyone else read."

Tala looked pleased. "Our friends on Vestia are of satisfactory attitude!" She declared. She raised her voice, "Folk if the Tiger, our friends send us excellent messages! Come and partake in them!"

(Come and partake of them, lol. That just sounds funny)

Rigel came to see what was going on, he was glad to hear that everyone was awake and that Dawn was well enough to put that quote in there.

Sawna and Shane were sleeping at the time, though they woke at the yell, coming out to see what was up.

Luka flinched a little at the shouting, she wished Tala wouldnt' do that yeesh.

Swarm coalesced into their humanoid form. "A message?"

Ethan was in the living area, rereading a mystery novel for the third time. He flinched at Tala's loud voice. Did she have to be so noisy? He went over to take a look though.

Tala stepped out of the way so everyone else could have a look. "Our friends from Vestia are most generous of time and effort!" she declared.

"Can we respond?" "Reply?" "get word back to them?" Swarm asked.

Luka frowned. "I ... I dunno... " Rigel knew about tech and stuff right? She looked to him.

"We could, but I don't think it would be as roundabout a way and I'm unsure if the guild would stop any reply." Rigel answered then shrugged "We can try if you want."

"Maybe once we know we've got Starr." Luka suggested. "So we don't give anything away too soon. Once we have her and we're out of this region of space, we should contact them, let them know we're alright and arrange to meet yes?"

"You do not wish to return to the guild?" Swarm asked.

Luka frowned. "Not if I can avoid it."

Rigel nodded and smiled "That would probably be best, we don't want to give away that we are following them just yet."

Tala nodded. "This is a satisfactory plan. We shall recover Starr, and then Rigel shall attempt to make contact with our friends! The Guild does not need our return, such would only waste precious time."

Ethan nodded in agreement, but he was sort of thinking about something else. Namely Hewitt, and the note he hadn't written. Ethan definitely wasn't disappointed. Really.

"We should hit the asteroid field in a few hours." Luka told them all. "Things could get a bit bumpy so... don't eat anything too heavy." She laughed.

Tala nodded. "Be wise of eating habit, and we shall escape unscathed."

Ethan shuddered. "If anyone pukes on me or my books, I'm hitting them with a dictionary."

(We about ready to timeskip?)

Luka laughed harder. "Why a dictionary?"

"Because they are generally large and heavy?" Swarm suggested. "We would recommend bags or bowls instead. books do not hold liquid very efficiently."

Luka stifled her giggling and went back to the job at hand.

(I think so)

(yep)
Rigel nodded and went to get some sleep before they would hit the belt

"If I'm going to hit someone, I'm doing it right. With a dictionary." Ethan nodded.

Tala snorted. "We shall confiscate dictionaries if you use them as weapons, young one."

"You'd have to find my dictionary first," Ethan said smugly.

TIMESKIP - THROUGH THE ASTEROID BELT AND TO THE HOLD - MID APRIL?

The Celestial Tiger did, thanks to Luka's excellent flying, make it through the asteroid belt in one piece, and reach Avolire Hold. They had arrived before the Family and Starr, although that might not be obvious.

Luka scanned the region as best she could for that little ship and the tracking on it, keeping their own ship away from the station for now to avoid confrontation before they were ready.
She awaited orders.

There was no sign of a ship marching the description of the one the Family had bought. Either it was really well hidden, or it wasn't there.

Tala joined Luka in the cockpit. "Helen!" She called back, "Rigel! We desire consultation!"

Helen and Rigel came up from their rooms, looking to Luka and Tala as they did. "What's up?" Rigel asked

"We are at the Hold! The ship of the keepers we chase seems not to have arrived yet. We must decide how to proceed, whether we should infiltrate the Hold, or intercept the keepers before they arrive!" Tala said.