The Ratway

The woman sits in the offered seat, her mouth already offering up information as she fishes in her bag for her communicator. It is larger then the others, just a little smaller than an A4 sheet. With it she is able to find any records that she may need. It comes in handy with her line of work.
"My name is Elizabeth Groner. I was second in my class at Yorkshire Med. I specialise in general practice, though I minored in more extensive surgeries. I have all my grades, plus references, previous working histories and any personal information you may need here."
She moves to pass the pad over to Yuki, but then thinks better of it and slides it over to Mori. He seemed like the one who was running this expedition any way.
"I expect that your med bay is already properly stocked?"

Two drinks sit themselves down in front of Mori as Abby climbs over the back of the seat and into her chair. She eyes the new comer suspiciously as she grabs one of the drinks. "Who's the barbie?"

Elizabeth turns her gaze, not turned critical to the girl. "Barbie?" She looks to the males at the table for a little help.

"Yeah, you know. Old human toy back on Terra. Blond plastic toy with an unnatural curvy, skinny body?" Abby raises an eyebrow, confused that someone wouldn't know what a barbie is. "Didn't you have a childhood?"

"I did." ELizabeth replies slowly, unsure how to handle this girl before her. "But I played with normal toys. Like Heever the brave and Lilen the Princess."

Abby stares back at the girl, her eyebrows raised as if speaking to an alien. "A wha-?"

"I'm tagerian." The older woman offers up easily, still looking to the men to help her out here. Yuki just grins like a maniac, enjoying the conversation that is obviously making the newcomer nervous.

"Tagerian?! Seriously?!" Abby exclaims, leaning on the table as she looks over the woman. "That is so cool! I don't see enough Tagerians. Its mostly Loogones and Rachians on this planet. What's it like?"

"Ah, fine I guess." Elizabeth clears her throat and turns back to Mori. The conversation she was apart of seemed to go nowhere so she decides its best to just end it now and return to the task at hand.
That task being employment, because she would just love to get off this stupid planet. "So, are they any questions?"

"I have questions!" Abby exclaims, raising her hand. She is almost bouncing in her seat at the prospect of meeting a tagerian. It is like she believed Tagerians on par with Avonian, the race who is never seen.

"Tagerians are plenty, you just don't usually know its us because we're good at blending i. Unless we tell you, or are scanned you'd never know." Elizabeth answered quickly. "Now, if you don't mi-" She is cut off as Yuki opens his mouth for the first time since she sat down.

"Why do you want to be a part of this expedition?"

Elizabeth looks shocked. She opens her mouth to answer, but not before clearing her throat. "I guess it just seems like a good chance to leave this planet and see the world." She answers honestly. She looks to Mori for help. He seems like the only sane person at this table besides her.

"Well you'll definitely get a chance to see a range of places, it's going to be a long trip," Mori offers, accepting her explanation without further question, still scrolling slowly through Ryan's digital CV and apparently entirely unruffled by her Tagerian ethnicity - if anything, going by his expression, he's impressed by what he's reading.

"Our med bay isn't stocked yet," He continues after a moment, having paused to carefully read over the qualifications section, "But it will bay in two days, though, only to the basic bay requirements - if there's anything you'd like to request, just send it through and I'll add it to the list. But, we can get to that in a second,"

He locks the screen of the tablet communicator and slides it back across the table to Ryan, "Based on this, you're hired, so it's just up to the two of you to talk money and trip details - and, Yuki, she'd be a tier two employee," He adds pointedly, sliding his finger up the list of expected pay rates the man had secured earlier for the sake of legal freaking contracts until he hit her level, tapping the cell in question and reaching for his drink with his other hand. She was going to be an expensive one, but well, it's either a bit of money, or they bleed to death after doing something stupid because bandaids, despite their impressive history through the ages, are only so good. "So you know."

Yuki's face becomes horrified at the price. Sure he had the credits, but that didn't mean he wanted to spend so many on one person! He looks up at Mori, his eyes in a secret plead to just get rid of the medic and fly without her.
Who needs a medic anyway? Its not like they could get into too much trouble. Right? Right?!
His eyes begin to resemble that of a puppy, growing larger and larger by the second.

Elizabeth notices the silent talk between the two men, but elects to ignore it. She holds her communicator firmly in her hands as she gives Mori her full attention. "Could I grab your number so I can send a list of the required items?"

Off to the side, Abby slumps down in her chair. She has finished her drink and can't really afford another. Though she did buy two, she gave one to Mori... one he hadn't touched yet. Creeping closer, she decides to use the distraction at the table to her advantage.
Slowly, so not to alert anyone, Abby slides her hand closer to the full drink at the table.

Mori, without turning his head to look, smoothly lifts the glass and takes a long drink before setting it back down on his other side, safe from their pilot's creeping hands. It's his drink, goddamn it, and she's not going to get away with depriving him of his full requirements of pre-night-drink drink. "530-92-20B4S, see what you can do about getting what we need without it costing enough to send him into actual hysterics," He adds with a half-smile, turning his attention back to his drink now that's been dealt with.

"It's just a routine delivery route, so we'll have more than enough opportunities to restock along the way, so it doesn't have to be a long-term supply right now. So Yuki, you can, get the contracts together for them to sign," He doesn't quite trail off, but it's a near thing - attention snagged again by the fact that this 'delivery' that Yuki accepted was so incredibly vague in actual cargo details. He forces himself to put the drink down before he skulls the whole thing straight after finishing the last.

This whole plan is starting to have some kind of dodgy undercurrent that really took the cake over the potentially stolen vehicle his apprentice signed on for repairs just the week before, and it's far more pressing. And, yeah, the repercussions are likely going to be bigger over what could even be some kind of illicit substance trade- Shit it's doing his head in. Sooner this is over and they're on their way the better.

Two days had passed. Elizabeth had gained all of the supplies she needed, even spending a few of her own credits to ensure they were entirely well stocked. Her equipment lay beside her. Eight bags of equipment, plus three bags of personal effects. She had yet to see the spacecraft though. It is something she is both looking forward too, and dreading.
"This is the ship? We're going to die." Elizabeth comments dryly as she stares up at the piece of... space junk is really the only word she can find to fit it. Its space junk. Two days and the ship looks like space junk. Is it even allowed to fly in the condition that it is in?

"This is the ship?!" Abby grins as she looks up at the beautiful piece of machinery before her. "Its beautiful...." She steps closer, her hand touching the exterior in a gentle caress. She looks back at Yuki. "Does she have a name?"

The man grins, his hands resting on his hips in a pleased fashion. "Ratway. I thought of it myself. Kind of makes sense when you think about it."

Elizabeth walked over to one of her bags and pulled out a large, rectangular device. She motioned to the crew. "Right. Well, if we're actually going to fly this thing and live, I need to make sure each of you are in perfect health. If you could all stand in a line, please."

"Yeah, not going to happen." Abby laughs as she starts to back away. "I don't trust doctors, or scanners or 'medical examinations.' Or bouncy balls for that matter."

"Just stand in the line Abby." The older woman sighs, unamused. "I promise it will be quick and painless."

Abby lets out a bark of sharp laughter. "Thats what you say now. next thing you know I've got wires in my brain and can't sit down." She walks into position beside Yuki.

Elizabeth gets to work. She asks each member to raise their arms and spin as she drags the scanner over their bodies.
Yuki comes up clean, minus a small virus he's carrying. "I have some cream for that." She tells him before moving onto Abby. She scans and waits for the results. Her eyebrows disappear into her hairline. "You're sixteen?! How did you get this job?!"

"Sixteen?!" Mori snaps incredulously, rounding on the girl and almost immediately stopping dead still to rub a hand over his forehead. "Sixteen- Your papers, your pod racer I.D., says nineteen, for crying out loud," He scowls into his hands and mutters something incomprehensible under his breath, leaning back against the edge of the gangway before staring up at the skyscrapers in disbelief.

Great. Freaking, awesome. They're about to head off on an intergalactic delivery trip, and suddenly they've got a sixteen year old pilot? Not to mention, one that's been chugging down drinks like the best of them. Blazing hell, this was not happening. But, but, they've also arranged to have the cargo delivered to the ship right freaking now and there's not nearly enough time to find a replacement pilot without putting the whole deal in jeopardy.

So now the 'potentially shady' delivery is 'shady as freaking heck with a side of cloud cover'. "Abby," He starts, and then stops, scowling faintly in her direction and crossing his arms irritably over his chest as he forces out a sigh. "Talks, there will be talks, about this. And if there's even a single hint of trouble, about this age thing, you're taking the brunt of it, because this? Not our problem, your problem." He states emphatically, and his arms unfold again solely so he can mash his hands over his face.

Why was this happening?

"Yuki Himura, of the... Ah, 'Ratway'? A word in private would be appreciated." An unfamiliar voice asks, and Mori's head snaps up. His eyes settle on the owner of said voice, and if a moment ago he was wondering if this could get any worse, then yeah, here's the confirmation. Mainly because there are three men drawing up to the boarding ramp and not a piece of cargo in sight. The other two stop just a little behind the first, one blonde and slender - looking just as unimpressed - and the last looks like nothing but hired muscle, from what Mori can tell. The man leading the little procession can only be a first class citizen; perfectly fashionable clothing, high collar, long black hair styled in a way favoured by the Council and a faint look of authoritative disinterest on his face as he glances over the ship, and it puts Mori on the defensive faster than any threat could.

"Right! Thats me!" Yuki waves a hand at the newcomers before turning back to his crew. He clears his throat and pulls them all in close. Elizabeth bats his hand away. The male clears his throat again. He feels a little nervous now. "Here we go. Right... Well, these guys look intimidating. So, if I end up dying... Good Luck." He grins and slaps Mori on the shoulder before strolling on down to the men.

He claps his hands, a charming smile plastered on his face. "Good Morning gentlemen. I expect you've brought our cargo?"

---

After watching Yuki walk away, Elizabeth turns to Mori and quickly scans him before he can run a mile. Her eyebrows raise. She scans again. Her eyebrows stay hidden in her hairline. She grabs his shirt and pulls him close. "Breathe on me."

"Indeed," The man drawls, only gifting Yuki with a derisive glance after he lets his eyes trawl over this state of the ship once more - the passersby all skirting neatly around the bodyguard and leaving them all in a nice, clear circle despite the fact that they're standing in the middle of the walkway. "Our mutual friend wants to make it clear that if you deviate by your planned route by a maximum radius of two-hundred norts whilst still carrying our property, you're not going to enjoy the following situation." He states as casually and calmly as if he's simply commenting on the weather. He lifts a hand and curls a finger, and the similarly well-dressed blonde steps up beside him and nods politely at Yuki, face locked in a faint smile as the dark-haired man continues speaking.

"The next installment of your payment will only be received upon delivery, as we've discussed. Check in via our communication lines at the necessary stops as you go, and," He cocks a brow, "Don't misstep. This is an important transaction. Any questions?" He asks without actually asking at all, voice clearly implying that he's done speaking, gloved fingers deftly setting up his own communicator for a digital signature from Yuki, which is then thrust towards him.

---

Mori glowers at the hand gripping his shirt, and he doesn't even breathe for a second before a full scowl breaks out over his face and he puffs a breath of mint and cigarette and no-alcohol over her face.

"Not drunk."

"Not your breath anyway." Elizabeth comments as she pulls a face at the smell. She steps back. "But with a blood alcohol reading this high, it is unsafe for you ot be near heavy machinery, let alone actually running them." She pauses for a moment as she looks over the results once more. She looks up at Mori, her expression one of genuine curiosity. "How are you still alive?"

---

Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. The cargo is a person? This person? The cargo is an actual living, breathing, walking, talking being?!" Yuki's voice threatens to crack at the pitch he is reaching. Oh dear God, what had he gotten himself into. He clears his throat. "I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that, you know, the cargo was an object. An object most likely in a box. Not a person. How am I meant to transport him from here to the other side of the universe and not be picked up for involvement in slavery?!"

"Because it's not slavery," The man says simply, and slowly, clearly enunciating every word and looking at Yuki like he's trying to explain something incredibly dull to an equally dull child, or just a very slow adult. "You've already been paid half the full price, don't say now that you're changing your mind? I'm fully aware that your account balance has already been somewhat spent," He presses with a particularly unfriendly look. "Sign here."

"Actually, it's more like a transport service," The blonde provides cheerily with a flash of a sudden grin, demeanour entirely flipping around as he peers up at the ship, easily skirting around them both to wander a little closer. "Though, ah, well. No offence, but I was imagining, something a little more..." He clears his throat, looking entirely unapologetic. "Modern."

"Whenever you're ready, but now, I find, works particularly well." The man drawls again, speaking right over the 'cargo' and raising an irritated brow at Yuki. "We are on a schedule, after all."

---

Mori opens his mouth to respond, stops, starts again, stops, and then he heaves a small shrug, looking around back to Yuki again and patting down his pockets for his communicator, just, for something to do. honestly, he doesn't have an answer for that. "Sober enough for heavy machinery, it's not even midday yet," He says, snorting quietly.

Elizabeth frowns, her attention turning from Mori to the new blonde man. She makes her way over to the new come and quickly scans his body. She stands up straight as she waits for the results.

-------------

Yuki grumbles unhappily to himself as he signs his life away. Because that is what this is. From now on, Yuki swears never to go into anything half-cocked again.
He, half-cocked. You wouldn't get into anything half-cocked. He, he, he.
"There. Signed. If there are any course changes I'll be sure to let you know." He tells the small with a acidic grin. He makes his way back to the crew.

Taro's lips quirk into a careful smile as the woman pours over the scanning device, and he shifts to stand to her side, peering across to look at the results but keeping a very calculated distance out of step. "Well, that's one way to put it, clearly the important fact," he muses dryly with some odd form of amusement as the general class flashes up the word 'cyborg'. He dismisses the rest, attention turning to his impeccably pressed shirt sleeves, fingers almost nervously smoothing out nonexistent creases as his gaze slips over to Yuki and Crylus under his lashes, just in time to watch the latter turn on his heel and walk away, bodyguard at his heels, with a last, somewhat threatening stare split between himself and the captain.

This same situation under different circumstances would have been giddying. As it is, though... "So do you have a bigger, nicer ship hidden away behind this one? It's not exactly a fleet hotel ship," He asks as Yuki heads over to them, with that same sarcastic smile, weight balanced and eyes considering behind half-hooded lids.

Mori takes a moment to butt in, but he gets it together enough to do exactly that before Yuki can come up with some kind of defensive argument for the bucket of bolts behind them - he steps forwards and lifts a hand in a short gesture to get his friends attention, very short fuse already visibly burning down. "Yuki. Who's this? Where's the cargo?"

"On my person." The blonde interjects smoothly, lips still curved in a sharp smile but all instances of levity and teasing gone in half a second flat now that they're talking business - he eyes Yuki as he continues, testing the plausibility of the man running with the slightly less alarming and more socially acceptable explanation as he forms the words. "Im Taro. I'm going to be taking care of it until we're there as it's rather valuable to your client and I am familiar with overseeing it; not the immediate plan, as I've heard, but I'm sure you understand."

Yuki claps his hands together, an easy grin spreads across his face. "Thats right. Instead of a box to protect the cargo, we get a person. So buckle up and prepare for the journey of a life time fellas!" He takes two steps towards the ship before turning around and motioning to the two girls. "And ladies." He grins again and winks before walking inside.

The ships doors open automatically when Yuki and the others step up. This may be easier than he first thought. The cargo- Taro seems more than willing to be transported across space. So maybe it wasn't as bad as he first thought. Yeah, this might actually work. "I'm sure you're all curious as to where you will be staying, and I am going to show you. But first we should actually organise getting this ship off the ground. Once we're in the air we can set a course an-" He pauses, a frown falling over his face. "Wheres our pilot?"

While Yuki was talking, Abby slips away. She knows how things like this goes. They all go to the flight deck, she gets them off into the air and while she's focusing on stabilising the ship and putting in a course, the others run off and find the best rooms and she's left with a tiny closet.
Well not today. Today she will get the best room. So fuck them.

Elizabeth sighs. "I'll go find her. I'll meet you guys on the deck."
"But you don't even know where it is!" Yuki calls after her retreating back. Elizabeth lets out another, louder sigh as she turns around.
"Actually I do. Since you handed me the blueprints. I actually studied up on the ship I am now working on. I just wish it had mentioned a little more about the state of the exterior." Her nose turns up slightly as she looks at the walls. "And the interior." She turns back around and begins to walk. Once they were safely in the air, her first order of business was to upload the internal computers to her communicator. That way when she needs someone, she won't have to run around like a headless mocktitle.

Back with the group, Yuki watches the doctor walk away. She had attitude, sass and was downright terrifying. He made a mental note to speak to her as little as possible, but to look as much as possible.
He clears his throat and address the remaining two in front of him. "Right. Well, I'm off to a great start aren't I." He looks at Mori, the distress clear in his eyes. He really needs to get his act together if he's going to govern this crew. Seriously. Not even 10 seconds in and his pilot ran off somewhere. Fabulous. Just fucking brilliant. "Just…" He sighs. "Come on."

Yuki leads the men down a three hallways, they make two rights and one left. 10 minutes later they are on the flight deck. Yuki takes the seat in the middle, a wide grin on his face. Oh yeah, this was going to be awesome. He takes a moment to let it all sink in that this is, in fact real. That he is, in fact doing this. And that, once again, he has in fact dragged Mori along.
The dude needed to get out more though. As anti-social as he was, the dude would be miserable without Yuki to drag him around for adventures. Like that one time-
Right, off track.
He clears his throat again and leans to the right, pressing a button on his arm rest. "This is your captain speaking. Stevens, you are required on the flight deck. I repeat, Stevens you are required on the flight deck. Please get your underaged, fabulous self to the flight deck so we may take off."

On the right side of the room, in a small corner are a series of screens. The internal cameras. Abby has already discovered these and takes a comment to flip off the camera and stick her tongue out before starting towards the flight deck.
As she turns a corner she bumps into Elizabeth, knocking the older woman down. There is a glare, hysterical laughter, a few silent words exchanged and then they leave the frame.
five minutes later the women are on the flight deck. Another five minutes and - "Engines are a go. They are old, but they are a go Captain."

"Take her out." Yuki grins, practically jumping off his chair in excitement. After exchanging a few words with the docking bay staff, Abby is pressing buttons and taking control of the panel. The ship starts to rise, slowly at first as the roof above them in the bay opens. She waits exactly twenty seconds before lifting off. The speed in which she does it causes Yuki to nearly fall out of the chair, and Elizabeth to take hold of the rail before her.
Abby doesn't slow down, a wicked grin plastered onto her face. Even with the speed, and the many skyscrapers that litter the town The girl makes a smooth exit. "Hold on." She warns. "Its about to get bumpy."
Elizabeths hands turn white as the speed again increases. The whole ship shakes as they pass through the outer layers of the planet. The higher they climb, the more the ship shakes.
Then it stops. The ship is evened out and flying smoothly. They did it, they had managed flight and now are in actual space.

Elizabeth slowly detaches her fingers from the railing, her eyes glued to the window before her. She starts slowly, walking until she stops right in front of the screen. "There are so many stars." She breaths. She had known of stars, but the planet below with its consent lighting made it difficult to see any. This was her first time leaving that planet and now, as she looks out at all the universe had to offer, she wonders why it took her 50 years to do it.

"This. Is. Brilliant!" Exclaims a voice from the captains chair. Yuki, who had started the journey sitting up was now sprawled half on the chair nd half on the floor. He manages to detangle himself, and with a quick pat down he runs over and sweeps Abby into a giant hug. He kisses her cheeks. "You are amazing! Don't let anyone tell you different."

If the girls grin is anything to go by, she won't be. "Aww gosh." She says, a blush rising as she pats the captain away. "Alright. Setting a course. Auto pilot will engage once I have the co-ordernets."

Yuki gives them to her happily. "We'll need to stop at least four times to re-stock and refuel between here and then."

Yuki gives the coordenets of the planets he had selected for this. Abby enters them into the computer. She grins as she stands up. Then she turns and runs out of the room. "First pick!" She exclaims.

"Oi! Unfair!" Yuki shouts after her, the smile never leaves his face.

Elizabeth just rolls her eyes at the antics, her full attention still on the stars before them.

The ship flies smoothly toward their distinction.

"Well, she didn't immediately crash," Mori offers after a long moment's silence, wandering closer to the control panel to get a look at the gages and monitoring tools specific to the parts he'd had to fix up before they could even imagine taking off - and yeah, nothing was blaring, no red lights where they shouldn't be, no sparks, and better yet, nothing on his communicator had gone off to let him know that anything in the Underworks had gone wrong. It's still a dumb idea, even if they're already in space and on their way, and he's still incredibly pissed off and mortified that Yuki managed to get the two of them in this position (especially when a week ago he was starting to think he'd be peacefully locked up in his shop until he quite literally could no longer lift a wrench).

"I'm going to go and make sure it's all running smoothly downstairs," He says, pats down his pockets, sends a suspicious glare at the most recent addition to their little entourage, and gives Yuki a firm clap of congratulation on the shoulder on his way past. "I don't know how you pulled this off." He says with an amused scoff as he shoves his hands into his pockets and vanishes down towards the cargo bay - wasting no time at all in getting downstairs and to the relative familiarity and comfort of machinery.

He'd take anything at all to help distract himself from the fact that they're fucking hurtling through space at a rate that would mean instant death outside the ship- His hands lock up on the rail down to the underworks when he gets a great glimpse out of a porthole at a the steadily receding circle that is his home planet. There's not even any goddamn real gravity, just that fake shit, and that means that there's no real down or edge for them to fall off- He swears uproariously as vertigo kicks in and jerks his eyes away from the stupidly placed window as he clambers quickly down through the access hole.

Goddamn Yuki and his idiot ideas.

Stupid space.

Back on the flight deck, Taro cocks a brow as the back end of gruff-and-irritated's cursing echoes through the hallway, punctuated by the sound of the metal trapdoor slamming shut and latching into place. He crosses to a window and stares out - not nearly as taken with the view as the blonde woman is, but it's still not something he's keen to tear his eyes away from. The stars, such an impossible distance away, make it look like they're barely moving, the only indication at all that they are is the odd sensation of movement underneath his feet, the planet in their wake.

It might not feel like they're moving, might not even look it, but they are moving - and quickly. He forces his eyes from the sight with an intake of breath, entire body shifting with the movement as he physically turns away from the panels.

Their captain looked beyond pleased, and it's starting to look like maybe he hasn't been accepted by a crew of unsuspecting space-pirates; and he's not entirely sure how he feels about that one. It wasn't the assumption he'd made, in any case, and that simple revelation has him more thrown than he'd like.

"I'm assuming the closest room comparable to an actual room is called in the name of 'captain called dibs'?" He queries with the dry, dark humour filtering through his words once more - almost speaking solely to fill the silence, the young man crouching momentarily to recollect the small satchel of possessions he himself had been permitted to bring. Clothing, mainly. "Because I'm not going to sleep in the hammock room. This isn't a five-star ship, no, but really. That was a hammock, and I object. Believe me, I have standards. High standards."

"And your standards shall forever be high, my friend." Yuki smiles as he claps a hand on Taro's shoulder. "Allow me to escort you to one of our many other rooms that are available. They may not meet your standards, but its better than sleeping on the floor… Or in with Mori. Trust me dude, the man snores rival an elephants."

"Whats an elephant?" Elizabeth asks as she finally turns away from the window. Yuki shots her a confused look.
"Remind me to catch you up on all this Earth related when we have time." He turns his attention back to Taro. "Shall we?" He grins and offers his arm to the other man.

Elizabeth steps around the two men on her way out. She had to find the med bay and place her equipment neatly in order. If she had to doctor this crew of misfits, she would damn well know where every single item, med pack and tonic was going to be.
She had a feeling her survives may be in high order.

------

"Claimed!" Abby cries out into the hallway before closing the door to the room. It was close to the flight deck, wasn't too big and even had a window. She hand't had a window since the last time she saw her father.
Where ever he is, she is sure that he's proud of her. Sixteen and already head pilot on a ship! He hadn't accomplished that until he was 22.
Yeah, Abby is feeling pretty awesome right now. The only thing that made her nervous about this whole thing was the shaking as they left the planet. She needs to go down to the engine room later and talk with the monkey, The ship shouldn't have shook like that as they left.
But first. Time to unpack her tiny backpack and make this room a home. Because thats what this was going to be now. A home. No more sleeping in walls, driving dangerous space pods and definitely no more eating out of trash bins.
Because seriously, she had done it once and it was the worst experience ever. Everything gets mixed together and turns all slimy and… Yeah, not an experience she wants to deal with again and once her pay comes in she won't have to worry about it anymore.
Maybe she could even afford to open a small home to the orphan kids. She didn't like seeing them on the streets.

But first, unpack. Then See Monkey. Then check on flight plans. Then more day dreaming.
Maybe she'd have time for a snack….

"Isn't the usual expression 'snoring like a stranded whale?'" Taro asks stiffly, he sounds stunned, and the pointless question is an immediate, time-wasting distraction from the way he's frozen up - almost visibly aborting miniscule movements with the sheer overwhelmingly confused hesitation targeted at the proffered arm.

He recovers quickly.

"And I hope you thought to hire on a chef of at least moderate standing," He adds with a lilt of sarcastic glee, looping an arm through Yuki's before pulling out a flawless imitation of Crylus' arrogant, disdainful expression as one of his brows curve in a perfect arch; "Once cannot be on a long trip without proper dining. It's just not right," The sneer gives way to a simple twitch of a blank smile as he twists his head to glance around the ship as they go, eyes darting between doorways and hatches and all the concealed spaces and rooms. For all that it's falling apart and dingy, metal crumpled in places and ominous clanging from underneath the floor, it does have a certain charm about it.

The charm is mainly in that it's falling apart and dingy with crumpled walls and ominous clanging instead of perfectly pristine and starkly unfriendly. Not that it makes much of a distance, all things considered, it could be a policy ship for all the good it would do.

"I am surprised it's flying this smoothly, after that take-off, for a second there I thought we were going to end up in a burnt up heap of scraps on the surface," He adds after a moment, voice quiet and thoughtful again as he steals a glimpse down another small winding hallway, and it's not a mockery against the ship, just a straight-cut observation. "I wasn't expecting this to go so, easily,"

---

"This is a junk yard, you've successfully launched a junk yard into space." Mori states when Abby finally meets him down in the underworks, her arrival announced by the clang of her shoes against the metal foot rungs that lead through the manhole. "And grab me that shift-wrench," He adds, speaking loudly so that he's clearly audible even though the only visible parts of him that aren't crammed underneath the thruster joints are his legs, black cargos already scuffed and bearing the tell-tale streaks of engine oil and grease.

There's tinny music blaring from the crackling speakers of his communicator that he's left up on one of the make-shift workbenches (actually just an empty crate labelled 'shit to fix the piece of shit') along with a pile of his trustworthy tools and a bottle of scotch with 'NO' scrawled over the label.

"I hope you're proud." Mori adds, and he half shuffles out, turning enough so that he can stick his head out from underneath the horrendously damaged revolution piece, hair dishevelled, strands hanging free from the low ponytail he's shoved it in and face carrying nothing but an amused scowl. Somehow.

He snorts and extends a hand for the tool in question, "I wasn't betting on this piece of flying junk getting out of the atmosphere."

Abby grins as she listens to him rant. The monkey is funny, in a dry pessimistic kind of way. She can see how the relationship between Yuki and him works now. Yuki is over the top, where Mori is more down to earth. They balance each other out. Its kind of cute. They work well together. "Heres your thingy to fix the thingy." She tells him as she hands him the asked for tool.

Abby makes her way over to one of the machines and sits on it. She looks around the room. "Not gonna lie. I was really worried for a second then. The ship shouldn't have shook so much as we left orbit. We really should have fixed this up before we left. Which brings me to my second point. Need a hand down here? I'm not as good a mechanic as I am pilot, but I know how these machines work. I grew up on a ship like this, My dad used to show me how the engines work. Plus I built my own pod racer. So you know I'm not that hopeless."

---

Yuki chuckles. "We're the best of the best… I think. I mean, we managed to get this piece of beautiful shittery into the air. So we're good for something, right?" He stops in front of a door. "This is one of the previously mentioned rooms. One of the better quality ones if I do say so." He presses the button beside the door and it slides open. The room is small, but spacious. More than enough room for furniture, other than the tiny cot in the corner. "A few curtains, a couple of throw pillows and the place will be just like home."

"You won't believe this, but I did fix it up."

Mori mutters this through grit teeth as he jams the wrench into place and spins the shift-lock into place, shoving his weight against the twisted bolt and managing to tear the thing out.

He lets it roll out from underneath the joint. "You can help out, so long as you don't touch a thing if you're not sure about it, and if you do know something about something, then you need to tell me exactly what you're doing so I can tell you if you're about to send us into a death-drop,"

He huffs in irritation and spends the next few seconds scrabbling at the compressor valve the screw from the busted bolt had pierced, and when it finally drops out he shoves it out, the unit scraping against the floor, "Not that I'm assuming you don't know what you're doing, but you should have seen some of the kids I was working with before," He adds when he next gets an opportunity to peer out from the mess, considering her carefully.

"So yeah, if you're not needed on deck, sure. Don't see why not."

---

"Not even close," Taro remarks, like it's some kind of private joke, and he steps through the door and lets the small satchel drop to the floor against the wall, turning once more to face Yuki after only the briefest of glances around his new space.

"Final question for the moment, then you can stop acting like some kind of host; considering your current position as temporary stand in for your beneficiary - and that apparently means I'm to listen and defer to you - to avoid imminent misunderstanding, is it preferential if I stay, for the majority of time, right here to keep out of the way of your crew?" He asks blandly and offers a tight smile, a brow arching on his forehead as he watches Yuki with plain interest, arms loosely folding over his chest.

"I'd also like to request an ETA at your convenience, which I can make do with if you choose to reject this next offer;" He continues, and he steps back and away, turning once more to consider the bare walls of the room and shifting his hands yet again to press his fingertips together, tapping his index fingers against his chin in thought.

"I can lend assistance in the form of a range of linguistic ability, fine-tuned navigational detailings, if there is call for it, multi-planetarial technicalities and customs when we reach ports and potentially other small services you may think of in return for access to your ships systems and navigational and communication network. You can of course limit and monitor this as you see fit, but that is the proposed trade."

"Yes sir, Monkey sir!" Abby stands upright and salutes her companion before grabbing a spanner and setting to work. She knows her way around an engine, but she hasn't seen one this big in a long time. So she makes sure to refer to Mori on all planned movement and actions.
She likes to think she's doing a good job. She hasn't blown anything up and she's being useful. She likes being useful, even if she gets on other peoples nerves. But Mori's nice in a 'get-the-hell-away-from-me-and-let-me-drink-I-ape-man' kind of way.
"Hey Mori?" She calls out from under a large metal pipe. She has no idea why its there, but its in the way of the wiring and mechanics hidden under the floor. She needs easier access to this wiring damn it! "I don't think we got much longer on the compression coils, or the entry couplings. I'd give them a week, maybe a month max."

-------

Yuki gives the man a soft smile. "Can I be real with you for a moment?" He asks as he steps inside and sits himself down on the bed. "You're meant to be.. whatever it is that you're meant to be. I'm meant to silver you, but you don't seem scared or ready to bolt. You're actually really calm about all this. Ryan caught me up a little before take off. You're cyborg right? I get that you're meant to be all calculating and robotic, but I mean did they program you, or is this just a highly paid, incredibly odd escort mission?"

He'd never admit it, but it's nice to have someone around here that's also bitching and commiserating over the sorry state of affairs the ships engine and combustion systems were in - not good, totally shot, and he's entirely comfortable with her company in less than minutes. Basically, long enough for her to prove that she does actually know a thing or two about what she's doing.

Or three.

Okay, the kid's good. He sets down his tools and ducks his head to move over to the pipe she's crawled under, crouching down and peering under for a look at the coils. "Yeah, a week," He agrees with a grimace, reaching up to swipe some grime off the plating beside it. "I've got replacements for those, I'll just pull an all nighter and get it sorted. Not like I've got much else to do. Though, you can get started on that once we hit the next solar wind and have time to swap out the couplings at least. Next two days, probably. Going by the, chart."

Or something like that, he hopes, rubbing the back of his neck and withdrawing from the crammed space she's occupying. What the hell's with the pipe anyway? He raps the top of it gently with his knuckles and shifts back to reach for his drink.

---

"Her scanner settled on cyborg, yes," Taro confirms, watching Yuki with what's still a carefully easygoing expression, but there is a sharp edge of discomfort pressing in now, "Though, I have to admit, I don't see how my emotional state could possibly be meaningful to you. You're not getting paid a bonus to make sure I'm not cowering in a corner. That said, it doesn't sound useful either, so I've decided to skip that part."

It's a direct question, though, that Yuki's followed all of that with, and that's something he can't side-step, at least as far as providing an answer of sorts goes. He squares his shoulders and quirks a smile with a small, dismissive gesture. "There's nothing in any rulebook I'm aware of that says I'm meant to be robotic, or calculating, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you'd also be somewhat careful if you were in my position."

"They want me to get from A to B, and you're getting paid for it. Handsomely. What wouldn't anyone do, for a paycheck that size? And all you have to do is drop me off and think about your retirement." His smile is anything but warm though, and he tilts his head slightly, brushing the curtain of blonde hair behind his ear, smiling thinly. "If it makes you comfortable, you can say it's a highly paid escort trip. As for programming? Cyborg doesn't have to mean my brain is literally a computer. It's all in the linkage."

"Look. I grew up around the slave trade." Yuki tells him. He leans forward, his arms rest on his knees as he meets Taro's eyes. "I'm not comfortable with this if thats whats going to happen. I get that its been paid and that it's been signed. But I have a ship, and we have the whole universe to hide in. I just-" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He always did it when he felt nervous, or anxious about something. He'd run a hand through his hair, then his hair would stand in all directions. Which made him more anxious. He liked to have good hair, okay? Good hair was the sign of a good man. Messy hair was not something Yuki tolerated.
"I guess I just want to make sure you're okay with it. I may seem like a bit of a crap guy, but I do care. I care about every single person I meet and I want to help them." He laughed nervously. "Why do you think the crew is a bunch of misfits?"

----

"Two days." Abby laughs as she shakes her head. "What are we going to do for two days?" She slides out from under the pipe. Seriously, what does this pipe do anyway? "I knew I should have brought some books or movies or something." She stands and goes to sit down next to Mori. She motions to the drink beside him. "Can I have one?"

That little admission of the man's reasons for concern is entirely unexpected, and he nods slowly, reaching up to rub the side of his face as he tries to hold eye contact with the man. "I can see that you care for them. It's not quite the way you're thinking. I know what to expect."

Taro responds quietly in a low voice, and for all that he's still standing solidly in place it's clear he's uncomfortable - eyes flitting to the side, the small window set in the wall; he takes a slow breath and presses on, tone settling back into his control as the moment of interest at Yuki's near-offer fitters away into nothing.

"More than that, I appreciate that you're even asking into this, but it's honestly not quite that simple, and you need to not ask anything else along these lines. If you ask, I'll answer, but I don't want to discuss-" He waves a hand a little in the air before he can stop the anxious gesture, voice cutting off and mouth quickly closing when he realises he faltered.

The smile he offers after that is slightly apologetic. "I just want an ETA. I want to know how much time there is. However imprecise it is, that's something. Don't worry about anything else."

---

"My survival instincts are saying no." Mori says very slowly, looking down at his drink and frowning deeply. "And my drink hoarding instincts are saying no." He decides quickly with a huff of amused air, "No. There's soda in there, somewhere, mixers. Help yourself. That or coffee. Don't touch my drink, and stay the hell away from my six-pack of beer."

"A month." Yuki tells him softly. "31 days." He stands slowly, his hands settling in the side pockets of his pants. He clears his throat. "While you're on this ship you're welcome to go wherever you want. See who ever you want. All I ask is when it comes to shore leave, you're back on the ship at the right time. I'm not gonna post a guard at the door or following you around or anything." He laughs and rubs the back of his neck. "31 days of freedom I guess. Like a bachelor party." He smiled softly as he makes his way to the door. "Just call if you need anything. I'm gonna go see if one of these crew members knows anything about- Hey! Cyborg. Think you can help me with linking systems to everyones communicators? Which you totally don't have to do because- and I've made this awkward." He laughs again as he spins a full circle. "And I'm going." He continues to laugh awkwardly as he leaves.

Which is new. Yuki never feels awkward. Anxious, yes. Stressed, al the time but awkward? He's kind of unawkwarding situations. Maybe it was because of the whole… slave thing that he was on edge. He was just not comfortable with it. No matter how comfortable Taro seemed with it.
Fuck… He wanted to tell someone, needed to talk about it and come up with a game plan but he couldn't. The crew probably already thought him an idiot, and Mori would just kick his butt for sure.

No, this was something he'd have to keep for himself. As much as it pained him to do it.

----

"Beer? You drink beer?" Abby laughs as she goes over to grab the soda. Because soda was all she was allowed to drink. Well, around Mori anyway. Damn that Doc and her loud mouth! "You don't really look like a beer guy. More a nice scotch, heavy bur bon kind of guy. Bet I could still drink you under the table" The girl laughs as she punches him playfully in the shoulder. She sits back down and takes a sip of her drink.
"Since we're taking a break and all, I think its question time. Question one, what do you think of the crew? And be honest with me."

"I think it's a bit early for judgemental crew-based question time," Mori says abruptly with a snort as he takes a swig from the bottle, "But Yuki's good, and any kind of pilot mutiny will be dealt with through deprivation of alcohol. Because you'll probably have a stash by the end of the next stop, won't you?" It's barely a question, and he just shrugs, settling back comfortable on the pretend workbench-crate. "Yuki's brilliant, might act like a bit of an idiot, but if it was anyone but him running this show, I'd be so fucking far away from this ship right now. You can trust him. Don't know a thing about Taro or Dr Ryan yet, so I'm not going to say anything."

"But you should." Abby presses, taking another sip of her soda. Maybe if she drank these fast enough she could get a sugar high. It wasn't the same as becoming tipsy, but she could have just as much fun. She would also get a nap at the end of it. She loves naps.
"First impressions mean a lot. Like the Cap. He seems a bit flakey, but he has a good heart. Doc is very formal, but I bet she loves sappy things like flowers and romance. Blondie is.. well... yeah, can't say much about him. And you, you drink to forget something, or a lot of things and feel like a father figure/ older brother figure to most everyone you meet.I could be wrong though." She grins at him as she stands. "Anyway, I should let you get back to work. I'm gonna go see how the plane is flying."