Deucalion [IC]

[Kate Orchix]

---

The bitter scent of coffee coasted beneath his breath as he hastily finished the last drop of his lukewarm beverage. Tossing his empty cardboard cup in the direction of a nearby trash can, Bruce never stopped or hesitated in thought as to whether or not his throw had reached it's intended destination. His tanned hands dove into his pockets, searching for his ID. A frustrated grunt was forthcoming as his search came up empty, and he pulled his wallet free of his trousers' back pocket. Finding nothing but cred chits, he slowed his frenzied pace until he was standing still.

He looked about himself, hand going to his scalp and brushing over the pilots' shades balanced above his forehead. Bruce Breaker, a tall enough man standing at six foot, stood in a sea of faces and bodies and luggage. The Castor Lower City's main entrance and foyer to the Spaceport was massively busy as per usual. A blur of people moving and the garbled mix of many languages and different voices was enough to confused any first-time off-planet traveller. Bruce, however, was an experienced traveller - definitely not the sort to go and lose his ID before a flight!

His gaze turned to the floor. Where had he last been when he had made certain the ID was on his person? This morning, his wife had woken him with breakfast and helped him get his belongings together for his brief trip back to Earth. He vaguely remembered Allanah kissing him on the lips and clipping his ID to... Right. Durr. His hand reached up and patted the breast pocket of his shirt. A pained sigh worked its way past his lips and he patted the ID that was firmly clipped to his chest.

Shouldering his overnight duffel bag, he gave a dramatic roll of his green-grey eyes and joined in the moving throngs of the massive crowd once more. This time he progressed at a less frantic pace. Really, it wasn't like the flight would leave without him, especially seeing as he was the captain. Progress wasn’t too difficult – he knew his way, unlike most of the people in the space port and it wasn’t long before he reached the terminal where people were lining up to get onboard the Orbitus 815. He flashed his ID at the space port security guards and made his way aboard, taking a left to the cockpit. There, he was met by his co-pilot, a slim woman with dark skin and short, spiky hair which appeared to have recently been dyed a rich pink. She was already seated in the co-pilot’s station and grinned a wide smile up at Bruce.

“Hey, long time no see, Breaker!” she said with a smirk.

“Mal! What are you doing here?” Bruce asked, dropping his duffel bag from his shoulder and sliding it beneath the pilot’s seat. He crouched down and secured it to make certain it wouldn’t slide all over the cabin once the ship hit space. “I thought you were working with Holden and his crew?”

The thirty-something-year-old shook her head and flicked a few switches on the instrument board before her – the engines were already humming, Odin the engineer having started them up to run system checks. The switches she flicked on and off just activated some maintenance lighting outside, making the cockpit glow a little more brightly than its dull interior usually permitted. “Nah, the Orbitus 46 got grounded – we kind of crashed her in the farmlands last week.”

Bruce gave the woman an uneasy glance, then chuckled. “So they assigned you to my crew? Jek was doing a fine job and not crashing into anything... where’s he anyhow?”

“Called in sick,” Mal said with a slight smile. “I promise not to crash your bird...”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Bruce bantered along, smiling as he took his seat in the pilot’s station to the left of Mal. “Any other surprises I should know about before we lift off?”

“Meh.” Mal wrinkled her nose and leaned back rather lazily in her chair. She propped her booted feet up on the instrument board before her and gazed at the ceiling. “Not that I can think of... oh, wait, no, I remember one. Your comm specialist hasn’t been showing up to work for the past few days, so Orbitus up and hired someone they found. Apparently he’s got nice recommendations, but Odin said he was a bit of a stick in the mud... might be a nice change, y’know? A comm spec that isn’t actually much of a talker. Also, I think Security’s in the passenger cabin... not sure. Might just be one of them.”

Bruce sighed. “Y’know, people should be talking to me – telling me what’s actually going on aboard my own ship.”

“I think that’s what I’m here for,” Mal said with a rather wry smile.

Silence reigned for a few moments, dragging on until Mal dropped her comfortable position and started checking the systems that Odin couldn’t check from down in the engine room. Bruce gazed at the instrument board for a few long moments, then finally burst out with: “I only got a new navigator last week! My whole crew's being replaced! Damn Orbitus..."

---

The Orbitus 815 is a common passenger-class freighter. It has no weapons on board and is fairly citizen-friendly. Seating 110 passengers, the Orbitus 815 is fitted out with the following crew of ten: Captain, co-pilot, navigator, communications specialist, two security guards, an engineer, and three hosts or hostesses. There is one bathroom between the airlock’s room and the room with a staircase leading down to Engineering. Across the hall from the bathroom is a room where snacks and meagre medical supplies are stored. Towards the back of the ship, there is another room with access down to Engineering. The cabin at the very front of the ship is the cockpit with the pilots’ stations at the forefront. The navigational and communication stations are in the same room but separated from the pilots’ stations by being at a slightly higher elevation than the pilots’ pit.

Common passenger-class freighters have no ‘first-class’ section and have only one passenger cabin. To gain access to the escape pods, the passengers and crew must take the stairs down to Engineering. Two corridors branch out around the edge of the ship, each taking passengers towards escape pods. There are five pods on both corridors (both sides of the ship) and the engine room is in between the two corridors. There are ten escape pods altogether, capable of holding twelve passengers or crew each.

One security guard is stationed at the Engineering access towards the back of the ship to make certain that no passengers get past. The other security guard is stationed near the bathroom, performing the same job and also making sure no passengers attempt to access the cockpit.

[Sunal Wolfsbane]

The Orbitus 815 looked like every other ship Lian had worked on. At least that was the thought running through his mind as he sat on a bench in the Castor Space Port. Normally Lian would have headed straight for his station and get to work, but today was different. Lian didn’t know why but the day felt wrong. His mood was nearly never described as more than apathetic but today his temper was slightly even more foul. Yet for some reason that Lian could not comprehend, watching the senseless commotion around him, and listening for the different languages, made him feel like he shouldn’t leave the bench.

After another few minutes of studying the people, Lian stood straight and began to make his way to the entrance of the 815 and realized this would be the sixth ship he had served on since Academy. This presented an interesting circumstance for the man, for he had never been fired. Every captain Lian had worked with was more than willing to provide a recommendation, but he had not enjoyed working with any of them. Every time the ship he was with put in to dock for more than a few months at a time, Lian began looking for new work. He couldn’t stay in one place.

And so was the situation when Lian began making his way towards the cabin that he was already analyzing everyone he passed; picking out their flaws, weaknesses and anything that just irritated him. As Lian entered the cabin he stopped and nodded in the direction of the one man he would respect on the ship.

“Captain.” Was the only word that left Lian’s mouth before he sat down at his station and kicked his feet up, looking like the most uncomfortable, relaxed person in the world. Just another ship, just another job.

[Sheah]

TJ had arrived early.
It wasn’t her usual way – often she was right on time. Never late, never early, although she never had to rush to get anywhere. Things simply seemed to work in her favour.. for the most part.

She had been aboard for several hours in order to ‘get a feel’ for the ship, and to make sure she knew where everything was located; cock pit, amenities, engine room and the communications room, to name a few. She had also spent the extra time researching the crew and passenger manifests. If she was going to trust these people, she had to know a lot about them – if not everything. If there was a potential threat, someone who was onboard illegally or had bad intentions, for example, then she had to know about it. It was her job.

By the time she had finished shuffling through the reports, the Captain had arrived and she was on her way to the cock pit. Her luggage secured elsewhere – extra weapons included - she entered the room with little equipment on her person, eager to make a good first impression with the man running the show. Although she was employed to his ship, she hadn’t met him immediately after landing the job, and at best, she had simply heard mentions. She was outfitted with a standard military uniform, having been issued it from the Academy she had so hastily left behind. The first item of clothing was a white singlet, partially concealed by a navy blue combat jacket which included shoulder pads and her Academy insignia over the right pocket; a silver phoenix, or ‘some sort of bird’ as was the usual estimate. At her hip, a thick combat belt held her army knife, .44 magnum, two smoke grenades, a walkie-talkie and her own personal HDD, and below it, black and grey camouflage pants, also complete with knee padding, were neatly tucked into a pair of army boots that showed obvious signs of overuse.

Coming to a standstill, she rapped on the frame of the door before hesitantly entering, noting each member in the room with a glance and a smile. Judging by the picture on his report, she located the Captain, who was ironically where the Captain would usually be situated in the ship – and moved to address him, her arm extended, with fingers splayed in preparation for a shake.

“Hello, Captain,” she said almost cheerfully, somewhat glowing. She supposed she was excited.. It had been a while. “My name is TJ; one of your newly appointed security guards,” she said, and with her free hand flashed him her ID card.

[jokintoker]

The terminal was, as per usual, a chaotic affair. Joey stood patiently, his back to a support pillar as he scanned the crowd for a reasonable target. Everyone was in such a rush! Every single individual walked with purpose, either confidently strolling towards their flight or frantically fighting their way through the crowd. After all, a man’s business is the most important thing in the world… to himself. Joey turned his nose up at it all. Unsure that he’d ever seen a place so full of people who were so full of themselves. He was certain that someone could drop dead of a heart attack amidst this crowd, and wouldn’t be discovered until they were stiff.

He could’ve stood for hours, waiting for a proper target to present himself, he’d picked an area where several flights back to Earth were loading, but had ran into a rash of families. While a consummate bastard, it still felt a little wrong to relieve daddy of his ticket while mommy and the kids boarded without him. Not to mention its quite hard to impersonate a married man, at least while his wife is sitting beside you.

It could have been minutes, it could have been another hour, Joey’s perception of time was lost somewhere in the crowd, but eventually a mark presented himself. Mid thirties, overweight, sheepish, a victim waiting to happen. How men like this unfortunate fellow even survived in this day and age amazed Joey. This guy was a real mess. Obviously lost, tripping over his own luggage, he’d be lucky if the guy’s pockets weren’t already picked.

A quick bump into the guy and his hands did their thing. One wallet, one ticket, and a hurried apology later Joey disappeared into the crowd. Making a beeline for the restroom, he slipped through the crowd, just another traveler who really needed to piss.

He disappeared into a stall without even making eye contact with anyone handling their business, and went to work. Carefully clipping the photo out of the stolen ID, and out of a spare copy of his own. A bit of strategically placed super-glue later, and he’d successfully turned himself into “ Melvin Perkins”, unassuming passenger on the Orbitus 815.

Gate security bought it hook, line, and sinker. He was on board without anyone giving him a second look and he settled in. He never quite enjoyed the idea of hurtling through space, but his hand had been forced. This flight would be best spent planning how to handle Hank when he made it back…and picking out in-flight security before they picked him out of the crowd. He had a way of attracting the eye of the hard-line types who take their jobs as a personal mission.

Joey leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He’d already made his bets, now it was only a matter of seeing how the cards were dealt.

[Ikitt]

Terric's hand came up covering his eyes from the bright natural daylight as he got out of the taxi. He couldn't help but grown as his headache grew worst with each pasting breath of this 'fresh air'. Causing him to cough as the pollen invaded his lungs, his only saving grace a re-breather to filter the air. "Ya man, here keep the change.. I don't need it. Now where the heck is port entry 815A?" he said paying off the taxi driver, and leaving a large tip. Terric's eyes scanned the area quickly looking for a clear entrance into the port to get back to the safety of indoors. He never did do well with nature, bugs, sunlight, or pollen. The effect of living on a dead planet had it's draw backs, he had never been raised in a lustful green world. Depriving his body time to developed use to the pollen and bug bites of normal worlds.

A surge of people started flooding in and out of the entrance to the port, he could see his freedom only a few steps away. With the large sign reading Port 815A in several languages, Terric dragged his luggage quickly pushing through all those in his path, striving to get to shelter. Once inside the refreshing cool stale air filled his lungs as he took a brief moment to recover from the mini panic attack. Inside was fitted with everything one might see in a olden day airport packed with strangers, translators working at every counter and more.

That's when the sudden *ding!* kicked in over the speaker proclaiming to everyone that the ship Orbitus 815 was ready for take off in 5 minutes. Terric stood there a good moment thinking to himself about the day before. He always had a way of showing up late for most things, and this flight was no different. The only reason he was even boarding this flight was because he missed yesterdays first class ride to Earth. Now he was forced to take the last ride out to Earth aboard a semi-moderate ship, with few luxuries. A heavy sigh could be heard as he realized he would have to book it catch the plane in time. Taking no time he head directly to security getting his carry on baggage checked, and some funny looks as he took another hit from his re-breather to help with the congestion. The guards stop to look at each other before pulling out a set of three small metal cylinders. "Sir what are these?" -one said.

Terric took a moment looking pass the guards to a man being escorted out, giving him the feeling he shouldn't try anything. Luckily he had papers for the weak medicine, handing them the slip. "It's my medicine from the docs.. helps with allergy's and my panic attacks. Now ya think ya'll could let me on board? I really don't want to miss this flight.." Terric said, as the minty fresh after taste from the last hit lingered on his breath. They accepted the papers and let him on with no problems after that. "Thank ya.." he said under his breath repacking his things and heading up into the ship. The inside looked rather compact to what he was use to, no free space, no fold out computers, and the seats looked stiff. Terric couldn't help but ask the nearest hostess after taking his seat if this was Orbitus 815, there had to be a mistake. But she confirmed it, and polity ask him to take his seat again. He rolled his head to the right hoping to at least see a window, or some girls nice rear, but was only greeted with a child's scream. "This is goin to be painful..."

[Kate Orchix]

Breaker eyed the new communications officer with a slight sense of wariness. The man couldn't be much older than himself, but there was a great sense of aloofness that seemed to permeate his very being. The curt greeting had been directed at Breaker and him alone. Not even a glance had been thrown to Mal or even around the cockpit. To this man, Breaker decided, Orbitus 815 was just another ship and another job.

He'd seen a few men like him come and go through Orbitus. Odin, the engineer, had been one that he would have thought would have brushed on through by now but was still holed away down belowdecks. This new C.O. reminded Breaker of the abrasive engineer, yet he didn't seem to be quite as... well, for lack of a better word, gritty. He still had a hard look about him, but he seemed to have a little more class than Odin.

"Good to have you aboard, uh...?" He hesitated, unsure of the man's name - truly, he was never told anything.

"Fields," Mal quickly interjected. She leaned back in her seat, back towards the C.O. and flashed a wide smile of bright teeth at him. "Aelian Fields. Read your file."

"You're going to have to forward that to me when we're in Jump," Breaker muttered towards Mal before returning his attention to Fields. "My name is Captain Bruce Breaker, this is my co-pilot Mallory Simmons. I assume you met Odin earlier considering how he seems to have reported some things back to Mal here..."

"I think he likes you. He used some of his least favorite words to describe you, which usually means he's trying to make an effort to be nice."

"He's an ass," Breaker said with a smirk. "You'll get used to him once we're underway."

He then returned his attention back to the board. However, it was only a matter of seconds before he was interrupted. He turned as someone else entered the cockpit, finding himself facing a woman presumably in her twenties. One glance at the smoke grenades hanging off her belt and the hand extended towards him, and he knew what her purpose on the ship was before she even flashed her ID or spoke.

He half rose out of his chair to clasp her hand and warmly shake it. "Good to have you aboard, TJ," he said, briefly wondering what the initials stood for - another thing he'd have to take note of once he got his hands on the files that everyone but himself somehow were getting access to. He reclaimed his seat and flashed the security guard a smile before motioning back towards the door she had come through. "A word of advice... if you want the nicer job, take the position nearest the cockpit. Odin tends to make it a habit of chatting to the other guard if they're at the other end of the ship."

Hardly having time to even do anything useful on the instrument board as he turned back, he paused as he heard new footsteps behind him again. A glance was thrown over his shoulder to find another woman in the cockpit. She lingered back, almost uncertainly as she glanced about and smiled briefly at anyone she made eye contact with. Despite the smiles, she didn't seem exactly friendly - on guard, rather. Breaker figured she was the other security guard seeing as she wore a similar walkie talkie and smoke grenades on her belt. She wore slim-fitting combat tights and a slim jacket, a bill-cap with Orbitus' insignia scrawled across the front, and two pistols at her hips. Her auburn hair was tied back in a tight pony tail.

"And you must be the other security guard?" he questioned, only turning half-around this time.

"Tabitha Cruz," she said smoothly with a smile, the appearance of the shy girl suddenly gone and replaced with a confident, smiling woman. She was of similar age to the other security guard, TJ. "Nice ship," she added quickly, almost as if in the hopes to strike a friendly note with the Captain.

"She's a nice one," Breaker agreed before grinning again. "Right! Clock's ticking, let's get to our proper places, shall we? Still got the navigator to go, then-... Speak of the devil."

The tall, gangly boy of nineteen years had lurked in behind Tabitha and attempted to slide into his post unnoticed. He was over six foot and sported bright freckles across his youthful face. Acne covered his chin and was splattered unceremoniously across his forehead, only slightly covered by his bright orange bangs. His hair was of a natural color, but it almost hurt Breaker's eyes to look at too long - if the hair wasn't annoying enough, Breaker was pretty certain that Jake Mannings had no clue what he was doing half the time. As a result, he had never really liked the boy.

"Late again?"

"Sorry sir, I got caught up in traffic, sir," Jake stammered, his grey eyes focused on the navigational equipment and head bowed and shoulders slumped as if it were a normal position - his great height didn't help him get comfortable in his seat. "Won't happen again."

"It happened since the last time you said it wouldn't happen again."

"Aw, Breaker," Mal drawled with her wide, friendly grin. "Come on. Give the guy some slack. You know traffic is hell out there... plus, you were late yourself."

Breaker fell silent with a foul expression on his face, knowing Mal was right but not feeling like admitting defeat. He hadn't wanted Jake on his crew - nor any of the others, for that matter, but at least they all looked competent compared to Jake. Without further ado, he reached under the instruments board and pulled out a small screen. He tapped it twice to bring it out of hibernation, then started scrolling through the files of the people in his crew. Mal would be able to handle everything pilot-related until lift-off.

---

Tabitha had wandered through the passengers' compartment towards her post. She had been aboard Orbitus freighters a number of times now and had become quite used to the way things ran. This ship, she had decided, was a little nicer than the others she had been aboard - the captain wasn't yelling at everyone, the cockpit was relatively clean and so was the passengers' compartment. The hostesses could have been a little more cherry-faced, but she supposed they weren't getting paid nearly enough to smile like those women back on those 1900's films from Earth.

She'd been born on Sinanju, a colonist planet, but had lived most of her teenage and adult life on Castor. She couldn't remember the move to Castor, seeing as she had been only twelve years old and didn't remember much from around that time. Travelling was a new experience since joining Orbitus - she had been employed in private security for a pharmacutical company for the past six years which hadn't involved space travel at all. Her new job was far more exciting; she had a chance of at least popping in to other planets' space ports, maybe picking up a souvenir or two, and maybe seeing some new things.

Still, despite the excitement she was experiencing; the fluttering of butterflies in her belly, she knew she had a job to do while she was aboard. Her blue eyes scanned over the already seated passengers and she paused a couple of times to let passengers pass her by on their way to their seats. Everyone looked normal. There were screaming children, elderly, middle-aged, teenagers, even a baby or two... nothing out of the ordinary, really. One or two of the passengers looked like they'd be a challenge to go hand-to-hand with, but everyone was either tense and ready to puke while they waited to fly, or leaning back in their seats and relaxing like space travel were an everyday occurrence.

A little relaxed herself, she brushed her way through the aisle towards the back of the cabin. She considered sitting down in one of the empty seats of the back row, but knew they would fill up quickly. Few flights got through the gaps without having at least ninety percent of the seats full. Considering the amount of passengers pushing through, Tabitha was quite convinced that today's lot wouldn't allow her a seat.

But never mind! At the end of the cabin there was a door and through that door, she knew, was a small room at the top of the stairs leading down to the engine room. On one of the walls were some braces and straps where, if things started to get rough, she could easily strap herself in. The lack of a seat in the passengers' compartment only meant that she'd be on her feet the whole flight - not that it bothered her, really.

She leaned against the door and sighed softly, watching the swarming mass of people ahead of her. The three hostesses showed people to their seats or attempted to console the screaming children. She noted one hostess paused by a passenger who appeared to be checking whether or not he was on the right flight - a slight grin broke Tabitha's features as he downheartedly sank back down into his seat.

Yeah... 815 and every other citizen-class freighter in the Orbitus fleet wasn't that impressive. Still, it flew where it was meant to fly, and that was the main point, wasn't it?

---

The camera had befuddled Security. It was of excellent quality, it's lenses carefully packed away in a camera bag and a film card tucked within a pocket of the same bag. The rest of Danny's luggage had been all but overlooked, but when it came to this certain carry-on item, nobody could understand why she would need it aboard the ship with her.

She wore dark sunglasses that hid the fact she could see perfectly fine. Her dog on the end of the seeing-eye-dog's harness acted the perfect angel, pink tongue lolling out in a smile. His white paws primly stood together and he looked up at the security officers with a friendly expression, yet didn't make any effort to make buddies. He appeared to be the perfectly trained dog for a blind woman such as Danny's fake identity, 'Anna Thorn.'

Anna Thorn was a new identity bought specifically for this situation. A hacker friend and Danny's roommate had faked up a new ID for her so she could get off-planet without the knowledge of the local gangs - many of whom had prices on her head and promised rewards for her capture. She had pissed off the wrong people one time too many with her con-artistry and now she was having to pay the price. She was going to have to start all over again, a new life, a new planet, and a new identity. Anna Thorn was just a stepping stone to that new identity, however - she wouldn't be a blindwoman once she reached Earth.

"I want to ask the person I will sit next to if they will take a photo of myself and Shep," she calmly and smilingly replied to the security guard's persistent questioning. "I know I can't enjoy them myself, but my friends and family can."

"The camera can't belong to you, then," the guard said, not even realizing that the dog hadn't responded when his 'name' was spoken. "It's registered under your name, but..."

"I paid for it; a photographer friend helped me pick it out. Now please, may I board my flight? My dog's papers are in order, aren't they?"

"Somehow, yeah," the guard said with a flustered grin. "The dog gets to stay with you so long as you make sure the hostesses can harness him in with that seat harness you brought along for him. Have a pleasant flight!"

It seemed to be beyond him how a blindwoman could be so organized with all her paperwork and possessions. Maybe it had even occurred to him that she wasn't actually blind - not that he would offer that as an explanation, of course, seeing as it could just land him in major trouble if an actual blindwoman took offence at the suggestion of faking!

Crook, the name the dog actually went by, stood as Danny collected her bags in a fumbling fashion to keep up appearances. He whined softly before she started to take slow steps forward - he broke into a slow-paced trot, playing the part beautifully as he led her through the gates and in through the boarding hall. Danny knew Crook was dying to break away and sniff all the different people, but he was well-behaved and knew when he was meant to do something. The seeing-eye-dog harness meant a certain something to him, and he knew how he was meant to be while in it. He knew how Danny was meant to be disabled, and he knew how to help her play the part.

The aisle provided no obstacles. Enough people found it odd enough that a dog had just boarded, but once they saw the sunglasses and Danny's upright posture they quickly parted before her or slipped into their seats to avoid her. A hostess, seemingly just finished with telling a passenger that he was indeed on the right flight, stepped towards her and gently took her ticket so she could lead Danny to the appropriate seat.

Danny was surprised to find she had a window seat and it amused her slightly seeing as the positioning was so ironic. The hostess took her duffel bag and placed it in an overhead compartment, leaving Danny to stumble her way into her seat. She 'blindly' held out the seat harness for Crook and the hostess took it from her, gently strapping it around the dog and hooking the straps of the harness to a bar beneath Danny's seat. Crook gave the hostess a friendly lick, sending the woman recoiling in disgust before she left Danny and Crook alone in their isolated seat.

Danika Starling was of average height, but with long, long legs. She had covered them in travel-appropriate clothing, jeans, and wore a white tank shirt beneath her brown woollen turtleneck. Over that, she wore a stylish, fabric-corded belt and a black leather jacket two sizes too big. Her long chestnut hair was loose about her shoulders and her camera bag sat snugly against her side, never out of her sight. The sunglasses hid her hazel eyes, but accentuated a strong nose and full lips in return.

Her fingers never strayed far from the top of Crook's head, giving him occasional pats and soft little strokes as he panted, waiting for something new and exciting to happen. His ears abruptly perked up as the freighter's speaker hissed through the passenger's compartment before words exploded from it. The volume appeared to have been hastily turned down.

"Hello folks, this is your Captain speaking. We will be lifting off in three minutes now, so please take your seats if you haven't already. Before you in the pocket of the seat ahead of you will be a pamphlet on emergency procedures, so please take that out and take a good read. If you have any questions, please refer them to your lovely hostesses."

Danni softly rolled her eyes. She couldn't reach forward for the pamphlet or be shown up in her act. The hostesses seemed to have completely forgotten about her, but she didn't really mind. She had been on an Orbitus freighter before, once, and remembered the procedures. Above them were portable oxygen masks that would be released if the Captain deemed a situation to be dangerous. She was strapped in, as was her dog, so she wasn't worried there, and she knew all the rest of the dance and rubbish to do if there ever was the chance of a crash.

The captain was still talking, now about the escape pods down on the second level and how to get to them. Danni threw a slow glance towards the other passengers within her view and couldn't help but feel a slow grin cross her face. Most of them had expressions of terror or had gone sickly pale as if about to vomit... mentioning crashing or death in a vacuum really wasn't going to help the passengers' confidence in flying, but the Captain cheerfully went on until he had described where exactly the escape pods were and how to operate them. He then signed off with a cheery 'talk later' and the mention of waiting for some late arrivals.

Danni rested her head back on the back of her seat and rolled her head, looking at the three empty seats next to her before the aisle. She briefly wondered if she would have any company at all before an old man and his wife sat down in the seats nearest the aisle, leaving one seat between them and herself. Danni kept her eyes focused on the back of the chair in front of her, the sunglasses firmly pushed onto her face. She would keep the facade up until she reached Earth...

It would be fun.

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