Upon Celestial Tiger: Chapter One

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

Tala led the crew onto the new ship, which was small, but at least large enough inside for Tala to not bump her horns on the ceiling. Everything was clean, and the furniture was serviceable and bolted to the floor, but not completely uncomfortable.

The airlock led into the living room. The living room had a doorway to the cockpit at one end, and a short hallway at the other end, presumably leading to sleeping and storage rooms.

Ethan looked around. Yeesh, it was so cramped. At least it seemed clean.

Tala looked around proudly. "All should be prepared for our departure! We shall run final checks of supplies and systems, and then leave!"

Luka made straight for the cockpit. Rooms be damned, she wanted to get to know this new ship's controls! "I'll prepare us for launch, make sure we have everything!" She called back.

Swarm spread out.

Rigel, Shane and Sawna went to put their things in their rooms then started checking on supplies to be sure they didn't need anything.

Luka would find the ship's controls and cockpit to be in good order, all system readings green. The cockpit was kind of small, but Luka shouldn't bump her head at least.

Supplies of food, water, and fuel on the storage hold were all good too. The storage hold was small, but there was enough of everything to last the crew a week or two before they'd need to restock.

"Once we depart, we must delegate who shall be in which room," Tala proclaimed to the ship at large as she went to shut and check the airlock. "It is customary among many species for males and females to be divided by gender, although such customs are silly and we may ignore them if we wish!"

Ethan wrinkled his nose. "God, I'm glad I don't need sleep." He set his stuff out of the way and went around the main room, making sure everything really was bolted down. Last thing anyone wanted was a chair to the face during acceleration.

Swarm made sure all of them were inside and would find somewhere to make themselves a temporary little nest. They sought out damp warm areas for this.
The rest of them spread across the walls and ceiling and watched.

Luka didn't much care who she ended up bunking with, she set her bag down on the floor to put away later and stroked the console gently. "hello girl." She murmured to the ship. "Let's see what you can do." She took a seat and once everyone was ready, would begin launch procedures.

Tala checked with everyone to make sure everything was good, then had them all buckle in for takeoff. Hey, small ships could be pretty bouncy, and they didn't know how this one would handle. She couldn't quite buckle herself in, so she just held onto a handrail. "We are prepared for departure!" She called to Luka, "Take us away!"

"We're ready to go!" Luka called back. "On your mark captain!"
She got the engines roaring.

Tala paused at that. Huh, who was the captain here, anyway? She looked to Rigel. "Are you the captain?" She asked him. "I have been issuing many orders, but perhaps it is not my place to do so."

Ethan facepalmed. Oh boy, this trip was off to a great start.

Luka tried not to laugh in the cockpit.
"How about you guys decide who's in charge while I just get this bird in the sky yeah?" She called. "Hang on! strap in."

"We are all suitably restrained!" Tala called cheerfully, apparently unfazed by the issue of who was captain here. "Depart at will, Luka, we shall decide this as you fly!"

Luka got the ship off the ground relatively smoothly, small ships were a little more bumpy than big ships of course but she was a fairly good pilot with a lot of experience flying littler ships.
Soon enough they were leaving the Guild.

Rigel chuckled then shrugged "Well, we could vote on it again, if you all want to."

Tala wiggled her ears. "A vote it is then! We are a most democratic crew!"

"I vote for the minotaur, she seems to have taken charge anyway," Ethan said drily, "so why change the status quo?"

"Do our votes count as one? Or many?" Swarm asked. They might have been joking.

Tala wiggled her ears. "Say who you wish to vote for, and then I shall decide how your votes count," she joked.

"Um, probably one, just for the sake of being able to count them up easier" Rigel said then shrugged and chuckled.

"We will follow whoever wishes to lead." Swarm declared.

Tala snorted at that answer. "All right then. Any more votes?"

Ethan sighed. Democracies. So inefficient.

Swarm chattered among themselves, yes, it was better to just veto than vote or else they ended up locked in a huge internal debate.

Shane frowned and looked around "Who are we supposed to be voting for?"

Sawna smiled then shrugged. She didn't know who to vote in as leader.

"We're supposed to be voting for Tala or Rigel," Ethan said. "Since this isn't the Silver Devil, apparently we need to clarify who's in charge here."

Luka got the ship flying steady and safely before calling back. "So are we calling Tala Sir now?"

"We still haven't decided, everyone's trying to avoid voting," Ethan called back, "Democracies suck."

Tala's ears had an enthusiastic wiggling fit.

"Oh" Shane said and frowned, looking from one to the other then shrugging "Rigel, I guess, since he has experience, but then, he already has a ship"