The consequences of our actions.

The captain was not a happy man. Not that First Mate Jason had ever seen the captain happy, but he seemed especially unhappy today, as the two of them moved through the inside of the Vexor. Jason, he thought to himself, today is not going to be a good day. They passed through the insides of the Cruiser, through halls. Where crewman were working, they would pause and move aside for the two ranking officers, though they didn’t bother saluting. It wasn’t the navy, and the captain wasn’t enforcing that sort of thing.

“Well, you see captain, the entire problem, when you boil down to it, is numbers. The raiders just had more people then us. It’s that skeleton crew policy you enacted to keep down potential fatalities.” he murmured, trying not to ire up the larger man any more. It wasn’t that Jason was small, and having lived on space stations near the docks his whole life had taught him to scrap. But something about the young captain just made him nervous, and he didn’t mind admitting that.

“And they are there for just that, First Mate Jason, to keep down fatalities. We can either be ready for borders with a full complement, or we can have as few as possible to keep down the death rate if the worst comes” the captain spat. He spoke slowly, not out of stupidity, but because he had a very hard time speaking Gallente. He had a heavy accent, though what it was, Jason couldn’t say, but it just seemed to add to the aura that made Jason consider quitting. They passed through another door, and Jason looked to either side at the dents and holes caused by small arms fire. Itleast they had cleaned up the bodies and the blood. And already the Captain had accepted another contract.

“Well sir, we were talking about a marine complement..maybe ten or so people, real marines, on contract”

“I’m looking into it” the captain replied flatly, stopping infront of a heavy blast door. He bought his hand up and placed it against a small scanner off to the side, as Jason brung his own hand up and did the same. The blast doors slid open slowly, revealing, snugged into the vexor, the bottom end of a capsule, the hatch open and waiting, along with a small shower and a locker. And seperating all that from them was a decontamation room. They stepped into the small room, and Jason resisted laughing a bit. The decom lasers always tickled him. After a moment, a chime sounded and the door to the pods area opened, allowing them both to step through. The captain began stripping as he moved to the locker.

“Well, we all appreciate it sir…So, what’s the mission then” He politely turned his back as the captain finished stripping down and began to get into the podsuit. After a few moments he turn back around as the captain adjusting the suit a bit, grunting.

“Apparently, the Serpentis are taking competitive business to a new level by blockading their rivals private stargate and trading hub. We’ve been contracted to remove that blockade…” the captain growled, moving to the pod and climbing up. Jason moved over and helped him get hooked up, frowning “Aye sir. Anything else?”

“Watch the starboard engine. After that run in with those Caldari Navy ships it seems to want to shift in it’s fitting. Have the drone problems been fixed?”

The Captain put his face mask and Jason handed up the hose that connected to it as he spoke “Aye sir. As for the drones, we think so. Something was jamming the auto launch bay on shute four, preventing a proper lockdown, so the system clamped it in order to prevent a vacuum breach. We think we’ve cleared it up, anyway…err…your jacks sir.”

The captain gave a final nod, turning his back slightly. The first mate reached up and hooked the captain in carefully, before stepping back “Right, that automateds will take over now. I’ll go sound the horn for undocking captain.”

The pod hatch slowly folded up, and Jason turned his back on it, going through decom again. He walked through the halls towards the bridge, frowning. He’d served in the Gallente navy for a good chunk of his life, but there was something different about serving with a podder. It was like being inside someones body, working as the red bloodcells. He could hear the ship coming alive as the captain booted it up with his mind. He reached the main bridge and sat down in the captains chair, keying the internal communcations system “All crew, all crew, prepare to undock.” he announced, voice echoing around the ship. Two alarms blasted wails of warning, and the various crewman throughout the ship prepared for the undock.

Less then half an hour later, Jason remained in the samechair, swearing vehemently. A plasma conduit had ruptured on the starboard engine and they were currently venting the hot matter into space. What’s worse, something had gone wrong with the warp core, and they were certainly roling back and forth, and he could feel he inertial compensators straining to keep them all from being flung about. He tabbed the comm key to speak to the captains, and caught the end of a conversation

“..I will kill you. no matter what it takes.” the captain growled, voice on the edge of madness.

“I’m sure you’ll try, captain” answered cool female voice. Jasons blood ran cold. He recognized that voice. He quickly flicked off the comm, going quiet and ignoring the shouting around him as he thought back. This was going to be a problem.