Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Four

First topic message reminder :

Dawn would be alright, she just got bored laying there alone and without a project to do.

Esk nodded. "Sentiment is a powerful motivator." He shook his head. "Whatever the Captain decides, so long as I have a job I don't really care."

Asher smiled. "Gotta love a good employer, and Rigel sounds like a good one, from what I've heard."

"better than the last one... and the one before that.. " Esk looked thoughtful. Actually yeah, Rigel was probably the best boss he'd ever had. Huh.. "I've had a lot of really shit bosses..."

Asher looked amused. "I guess there are a lot of terrible bosses out there, so it's bound to happen. I'm sure you could find other good ones though, you have some useful skills after all."

Esk shrugged. "You think Rigel's gonna fire me?" Now that'd suck. Hell, he'd tried to kill most of the people on this ship and they hadn't kicked him out an airlock, which was... weird but rather reassuring.

"Probably not. You're more perceptive than most of the people of either crew." Asher smiled grimly, "Without you, we might not have had the advantage we had in that battle against the Family." If Inari's followers had been loose to attack the city, the battle might have played out very, very differently. And not in the Guild's favor.

Esk half smirked and returned his attention to picking at his nails. "thanks..." He mumbled. He wasn't much used to praise or acknowledgement of his contributions.

Asher smiled a little more genuinely at Esk, but didn't try to push the subject. He noticed Esk seemed a bit awkward about the acknowledgement of his value, and didn't want to push it too far.

"Someone's gotta stop you all from trusting everyone and getting killed for it." Esk muttered.

Asher laughed. "That's true. I'm afraid most of us are too trusting for our own good. That's why I'm pretty sure nobody would let you be fired, we need someone to remind us of reality sometimes."

Esk snickered. "So does that mean you'll put in a good word if I ever need a new job?"

"Feel free to list me on your resumes," Asher said with a grin.

Esk snorted. "I'll keep that in mind." He replied dryly.

Asher smiled and wheeled to a good place to stay a while. He didn't feel like asking around to find out which room he could share right now. "I hope you'll do the same for me if I'm ever job hunting," he said lightly.

Esk shrugged. Yeah Asher probably didn't want a reference from Esk, he wouldn't be able to resist being snarky and rude.
"Watch the ladders." He told Asher, getting up to go grab something to drink.

Asher made a face at that remark. Gee, thanks for the advice. "See you around, Esk," he said instead.

Esk grunted a vuage noise that might have been bye.

JUNE 26, 2790 (desync'ed from Vestia)

The Silver Devil's journey to Mars would draw to a close, the red planet looming large in front of the ship. Mars City Five lay below, covered in its huge biodome bubble. The spaceport wasn't too busy right now, it would be easy to get permission to land.

~~
Asher was still upstairs, he liked the upstairs of the Silver Devil a heck of a lot better than the cargo bay. He was perfectly fine with waiting to teleport down until after they'd landed.

He'd probably chatted with most of the crew at various times over the last few days, he'd done his best to avoid pissing off Esk, or being pissed off by the guy, and he'd probably played a few more chess games with Dawn.

He'd already had Rigel stow his gun away somewhere, he didn't want to be anywhere near a gun here, that would be begging for trouble. Although he hadn't put on his badge yet, because that part sucked.

~~
Tala had had a pleasant trip, she'd given up on trying to read that book she'd brought, and had instead entertained herself with talking with the crew, working out, or cooking food for herself. She usually didn't share her food though, cause she was a jerk that way. Oh well.

~~
Moriah stayed well away from Esk for the rest of the trip. She was happy to spend time with everyone else pretty much, but Esk freaked her out and she took to making excuses and hurrying off every time they were in the same room. Probably not healthy, but she liked it better that way.

She also spent time with Mourn if he let her, fascinated by his projects, and also enjoying his rather eccentric company.

Although only when Mourn wasn't in Esk's room.

Dawn spent her time with the others, playing or chatting or simply just hanging out. She liked this trip, it was nice with the others here.

Rigel spent some time with the crew when he wasn't running the ship. He was watching the approach to the planet carefully.

Esk grumbled a lot about Mourn, but couldn't shift him. Even the threat of violence was met with Mourn casually drawing a gun while still typing with his other hand.
Jerk.

Esk sulked about, looking surly and grumpy. though he still talked to the others. He spent a lot of time wherever other people weren't, even if that meant wedging himself into small corners somewhere just to get some damn peace. He'd gotten too used to Vestia's wide halls and plentiful hiding places.
Right now he'd decided to actually join the others as they approached Mars, not sure quite what to make of this expedition or what might happen here. He couldn't shake the uneasy knowledge that the simple jobs were almost always anything but. He was probably just paranoid though, right?

Luka divided her time between flying and chatting to the crew when she wasn't sleeping, but generally, she was up in the cockpit reading and keeping one eye on their course.
Now that they approached mars she was listening to the radio chatter and approaching warily. Such a red, unhospitable looking planet, she wondered why the terrans hadn't terriformed this world into something less... dusty and barren. Maybe they didn't have the technology, she'd never really bothered to learn about how much tech the terran empire had that she took for granted.

Mourn had gotten a lot of coding done, and when he wasn't coding or sleeping or eating, he hung out with the crew quite happily. He didn't mind company at all, and welcomed Moriah to join him, explaining at her how it was all coming along and probably not making a lot of sense to anyone that wasn't him.

He was excited about Mars, a chance to see where megabrain androids were 'born' was extremely interesting to him.
Esk had already told him to 1: not try to buy more androids and 2: not threaten anyone or call anyone a stupid terran.
Esk didn't have much faith that the felid could do either of those things.

Mars City Five air traffic control gave Luka clearance to land at one of the landing slots. It was outside the biodome of the city, with a retractable tunnel next to the landing space which would stretch out to connect to the SD's airlock, letting the crew enter and leave the ship safely.
It was a weird spaceport, but on such an inhospitable planet, it was necessary.

Asher, Moriah, and Tala were all in the main room currently. Moriah was fidgeting with excitement, Tala was twitching her ears slightly at the thought of getting off the ship, and Asher was looking serious and concerned.

"Guys," Asher said, "I know you all probably know to be careful out there, but I want to say it again: whatever you see, don't intervene. Don't stand up for any androids, don't buy any androids, don't make a scene, don't draw attention to yourselves. We have a very simple purpose here, and we don't want to cause any trouble for ourselves or anyone else."

Moriah nodded. "I won't say a word."

"I thought you were staying on the ship," Asher told her.

"I said that to reassure the others. I want to see our homeworld, and they aren't here to stop me," Moriah said firmly.

Asher sighed. "It's... really not that great a homeworld. You'll probably be disappointed. But okay. Please guys, promise me you'll all keep each other from causing trouble out there," he said, addressing everyone in the room again.

Esk was leaning against a wall in the main room, listening. He grunted and nodded. "Unless the crew are in danger, no intervention, got it."

Mourn looked bored. Everyone kept babbling on about rules, bah, dull.

Esk glowered at the Felid, he didn't trust him one bit.

Luka liased with air traffic control and prepared to land. Her voice came through the intercom "Buckle in guys, we're landing!"
It would be as smooth a landing as she could manage, the spaceport design was weird and not something she was used to.

Nova came out of her room, making sure everyone had one set of the stones just in case it was needed. She sat and buckled in once everyone was settled.

Dawn and Rigel settled in to land.

Asher still didn't look convinced that nobody was going to cause trouble, but he managed a small smile at the others.

Tala made sure he and his wheelchair were secure for landing, then buckled in as well.

Thankfully the weather was pretty mild today, and Luka would be able to land pretty smoothly. The spaceport design was weird though.

Once the ship was down, the tunnel extended automatically to connect to the airlock, and sealed itself safely to the ship. Air control informed Luka that it was safe for the Silver Devil crew to disembark at their leisure, and wished her a pleasant visit.

Everyone could unbuckle and head down now. If they actually wanted to see Mars at all. Yay.

Dawn had chosen to stay on the Devil. She had no reason to go on this planet.


Nova was ready to go, she would stay close to Asher to keep him safe.

Luka came to join everyone else once they'd landed. She wasn't going out there, least no further than the space port out of curiosity.

Esk tucked his stone away where it would be easily accessible should things go wrong. He stood ready for orders.

Mourn reluctantly left his laptop, putting his stone into the pocket of his coveralls. "What plan?"

"Get Asher inside and fixed then go home." Nova answered. She looked to Mourn as she spoke then looked to the others.