middleofsomewhere | Orange Team Onward!

Orange Team Onward!

Arrival

Their flight path makes sure they are well out of the way of both the battles taking place and they get to the shield station within an hour as long as they fly quickly.

There are no enemy ships around but it is clear there has been an attack, the shield disk itself is damaged and there seems to be no power in the station.

Once they dock they will be met by some technicians who quickly explain the situation.

Help is needed everywhere. The power needs repaired, the shield needs repaired from the outside, there are injured technicians who need medical care. There is a small med-bay available.

Maintenance

Once the initial crisis is dealt with it is a case of keeping up with things. A patrol is needed to guard the station from other attacks, there are four shield stations in total and so the voidtreckers may chose to split themselves once things are a little calmer.

Keeping up the shields is an almost constant job, especially with the attacks. Once one thing is fixed it seems another thing is down. The maintenance itself is very technical but there are parts that can be done by the unskilled as long as they have direction.

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"Not this fox," she says with a short, sharp head shake. "Fate's portrayed as a kyūkon. They're cunning and vengeful and to tempt it is to risk touching one of of the nine tails and ending up with a 1000-year curse. I want kids one day, but not if they're gonna be cursed because of me."

Never mind she has a ninetales, but that's different.

He gives a whistle. "Okay, so a kyūkon is a magical fox or a fox demon, and that's a metaphor for Fate. Fate's not to be played with, then. Especially not if you're talking about a multigenerational curse. Which I know something about, by the way."

He casts another glance over the aircraft choices.

"Are you wondering if getting into one of these ships means you're tempting the Fate-fox?"

"It's actually a pokemon, but yeah, pretty much." There's a blink, but she can quiz him about that factoid later.

Right now, they have other things to focus on, like the mission.

"Yeah, but a leader's not worth her -their- belts if they're not willing to muck in with everyone else. So... Let's give this a try, shall we?"

"Okay, a fateful pokemon!" he answers, with a smile.

"I have to agree with you about leadership. That's how I've always felt. Yes! Let's give this a try." He looks over the patrol craft and then points at one. "This one, do you think? Let's tempt the fox!"

"Knew I liked you."

There's a flash of a grin and then a nod as she squares her shoulders. "Let's do this."

And she's scrambling up and towards the pilot seat. "Let's show them what we VoidTreckers can do."

He grins back. "We're on the same page."

He scrambles after her and follows her into the cockpit. "Yes, let's show them! Want me to copilot?"

"Please. I don't think I could do this myself."

She knows she couldn't. Not if things get dicey, though she's hoping for a quiet patrol.

"I want to float an idea, too. For the team."

He smiles and climbs into the copilot's seat and examines the controls. Not much different than he was expecting. It won't be all that difficult to fly one of these craft.

"What's your idea?" he asks, with curiosity.

She waits until they're out of the hanger and into space before she speaks again.

"You know how Stark-san's got his questionnaire? Did he ever share any of the information on it? even just statics? Anyway, I'm wondering... we should do the same with Orange. Or something similar at least so we know what we're working with."

They head off into space. The star-field surrounds them a full 360-degrees, and it is beautiful. The station falls away as they seek to get far enough away to begin the patrol pattern.

"Yes, I remember the questionnaire! I thought he was working on turning it into statistics, but I'm not sure if he ever shared his findings. You think we should post a Team Orange survey? What questions would you want to ask?"

If she wasn't so keyed up and alert for danger, she'd have enjoyed the view. The feeling of being in space and the joy it should bring. As it is, it's just another ball of anxiety to juggle on this Distortion-damned mission when they don't know if they'll really make much of a difference.

"He probably doesn't think he should, or that anyone else should know, so I don't think he's shared with anyone else what sort of data he's got, which is worrying." Despite the politeness, her words are bitter.

"I believe we should, yes. I'm thinking much the same questions with an emphasis on skills, even ones people don't think would be of use to the team." She sighs. "We could call a meeting and work it out with everyone, too. This way, we'd be better prepped for missions and not scrabbling so much."

Curufin, too, is alert for danger, and yet his Elvish soul is enchanted with the this star-view. The Elves in his world were called The People of the Stars, because they had come into existence in their very strange world before the making of the Sun and Moon. There had been only stars for light, and the stars were literally their guiding stars. Curufn wasn't even born then, but he knew the stories and had felt the magic of the skies, as did all Elves.

But back to Tony's survey. "I wonder what his concern is? Any of us could read all of those questionnaires and hash them down into data. It's not like there are any secrets in there."

"I agree with you about the Team Orange questionnaires, though. We should ask about skills, all kinds of skills. It certainly would help with mission planning and preparation. And maybe a meeting would be useful?

"For a man like him, it's likely about control. He gave me some line about wanting to protect people, but you can do that and give data without naming names," Eva says levelly hands tightening around the controls for a second before she relaxes.

"Exactly, and the meeting would be useful with organising the questions so we're all on the same page and people are willing to give honest answers."

"Tony has his strong points, and he can be a very kind and generous man. But yes, men of his sort usually do have control issues. It's certainly true that he could have reported his findings without giving any names." He chuckles. "Unless he wanted to say something like, 'There are five Elves on board.' Now that would be giving away names, even without naming anybody! And I'm curious now, as to what information he hoped to acquire from that questionnaire. In case he was going to read between the lines and elicit information that we didn't say directly."

His hands are on the copilot's controls, and he keeps track of what Eva is doing in order to do his part.

"So, at this meeting, we'd ask people what questions they think might be important, and take notes, and then create the survey with those questions and any others we could think up that might matter?"

"I don't deny he has his good points. Most boys do." Even as she admits it, she knows it wasn't long ago when she wouldn't have been as kind. The Elves comment does get a laugh out of her though. "Just five? I swear there's more than that. But, I wouldn't be shocked if there was information being gleaned about what we say or don't. He does try and talk to us when we hand it in."

Which is fair, she guesses, though now it's on her mind, she does have to wonder what other information's been collected.

"Exactly. I'm thinking maybe some of the same questions Stark-san's using, but also ones that are more relevant to our team on a whole, and then we ask the team what they think. What do you think?"

Curufin chuckles. "I'm glad you think us boys have a few good points, amongst all our shortcomings! Oh, and actually, there are six Elves, since my cousin Fingon is here, too." He rolls his eyes at his own miscounting.

"Hmm, I'll have to take another look at those surveys and see what we actually told Tony. But yes, some of the same questions as he asked? And then some that might be team-specific. I did wonder about our team assignments, whether the train deliberately puts Team Orange on tasks that involve less fighting and more technical stuff, or more of whatever it is we have that makes us Team Orange! But certainly I agree with your plan. We could put together a list that includes some of Tony's questions, and whatever questions you and I can think up, and then we ask the rest of the team for their ideas. Then we assemble the questionnaire and post it. Does that about cover it?"

"We get to ten and I'm starting a scorecard of how many elves we have and who's related to who."

It's mostly in jest, really, even if it does seem like they have a lot.

There's a nod. "Yeah, pretty much. We could start on a draft when we get back to the train, and- I also think you should be the one to call the meeting-maybe a few days after new arrivals?"

She would, but she's not the only leader. And maybe part of her is still determined to give the bullhorns to fate, however unwise that is. "We'd also have to compile this and make it public for Orange and I don't think we've got a photocopier yet."

Curufin gets the joke and snorts with laughter. "And who knows? We might get to ten, someday. I do have a lot of relatives, though I haven't seen some of them in literally ages. I'd love it if more of them showed up on the train. Go ahead, start a scorecard even before we get to ten! I approve."

"Yes, I agree. We should start working up a draft of the survey, and then I'll call a meeting sometime after new arrivals day."

He's fine with calling that meeting. "Worst case scenario, we have to write up copies by hand. But you're right, we do need a photocopier. I wonder if the train entity could be persuaded to provide one?"

Edited 2020-04-12 06:14 (UTC)

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Orange Team Onward!

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