// Post 1, 2, 3 and 4 are a summary of a rp session with XTriton.
Xavier Triton was walking, following the two guards ordered to "show" him the way.
That officer he met after he landed on Manhattan astroport gave him that escort for the time he would spend in Fort Bragg.
Well... Not like he planned to stay for long.
Xavier gave a quick side-look at the soldier walking near him. Alert, the soldier quickly replied his look, studying him.
A closed mind. It was obvious that one would kill him without any remorse if he had the good idea to do anything stupid.
He allowed himself to shrug imperceptibly. He wasn't planning to do anything stupid anyway.
As he was following the guards, Xavier meditated a bit.
A while he didn't leave Baffin.
The situation in the Trident was quite chaotic these days. It seemed Thomas Mellow had some troubles to keep on tracks Pandemonia.
On top of that, with the Diplomatic duties he had to take care of, Xavier was too busy to fly around.
'Concordia, Concordia...' He thought 'Do you even have any idea of the mess you made?'
The guard in front of him stopped, facing two soldiers on guard near a door. After exchanging some words with them, one of them entered a code and the door opened. Xavier then stepped in.
He instantly noticed Concordia. She was lying on her belly on the bed of the quarters, her legs waving in the air. She seemed to be busy reading a book... A diary, probably.
"Concordia...Did they treat you well?" He said, approaching her.
The girl raised her head and a big smile appeared on her face when she recognized him. "Xaaaaavier!"
She jumped on her feet quickly and took him in her arms, laughing. "It's boring here... They don't let me leave that room and there is nothing to do here..."
Xavier accepted the embrace tensely. It looked quite evident that he was definately out of his element...
The soldiers, standing near the entry, raised an eyebrow as they noticed his expression. However they didn't seem to be too surprised about that girl behavior.
"We..well I am here to take you away from this place. I'll take you wherever you'd like to go. I have even set you up in a suite on the Trident if you would like to use it...however..." Xavier gradually took a serious tone "I do hope you are aware of the situation Concordia...you have done something that has disappointed me greatly."
The girl leant back and looked shyly into his eyes. "Hmmm? You're angry with me?"
He looked to the side with a mixture of tension and irritation, thinking a bit. "You caused us a noticable amount of trouble you know...thank Eris we are still allowed to fly in Liberty!"
She left him and sat on the bed. "Rmmm.... I'm sorry, love. Alex, Chritie and David honey told me i did something wrong."
Suddenly rolling her eyes as she was smiling, she continued "But i just saw a funny jumphole and wanted to see what was there!"
Meanwhile, Xavier regained his composure and gave her a soft yet strong look... "Jumpholes that are surrounded with caution buoy's and keep out signs, as well as mines should be left alone Concordia. It's obvious whomever put them there wished it to be free of anyone 'seeing what's on the other side'"
The girl thought for a while, scratching her lower lip. "I saw nothing like that.... In minor?" She wondered. "I just followed some Order boys who were patroling." She giggled "They were funny! And then... I saw that singularity thingy... Hmmm...But no buoys... I think?"
Xavier's eyebrows twitched as he continued to explain... "You were in a bad place Concordia. A place where Liberty tends to shoot first and ask questions later. I hope you understand to stay away from that particular place..."
"Yay..." She nodded "Alex honey made me promise i wouldn't go there anymore!"
The girl suddenly smiled, studying him a bit from behind. She then tapped on the bed. "You don't want to sit?"
He looked at her, able to keep his current expression. However he failed to suppress the beads of sweat forming on his brow.
Not wanting to seem cold or distant to her, he finally proceeded to sit...
"Thank you..."
She smiled mischievously as she used to. "Soooo... You came here for me?"
Laughing, she then added, looking at him "That's quite romantic, don't you think?"
Xavier cleared his throat. "I guess your right. haha-ha-..."
Trying to keep a serious tone, he then said. "I wouldnt come to this place at all if I had the choice. But I couldnt leave you here at the mercy of house bureaucracy..."
As he talked, beads of sweat started to become drops..
"Hmmm? What's wrong? You're still upset?" She said, looking at him. "I'm not upset! Is it hot in here?"
The girl looked around, ignoring the guards who were staring at Xavier with a mocking look. "Don't think so?" "Phew, well I tire of this grey environment. The Ticked Thunderbird awaits us if you would like to depart.."
He was slowly regaining parts of his composure... Fortunately...
Why was it so hard to simply talk to her a make her understand simple things?
"But where would we go? Aaannnd.... Do you know if the Unicorn honey is okay?" "As far as I know, the Unicorn is fine. She is getting a full investigation but I have been assured she will be back just as you left it. Maybe a little cleaner hehe."
She looked at him teasingly. "They didn't search in my under-wears wardrobe, right?"
Xavier turned his head to the side a bit and pulled a bag from behind him..seemingly from nowhere... "Here." "Oh?" She looked at the bag he carried with him. "It..should be all there. I asked first. Seeing as I know you treasure them."
Concordia bursted out laughing, pulling an arm around him. "You checked?" Tilting her head, she continued "I had a lot of clothes in the Unicorn... Nice skirts and dresses... Pants... Blouses... Everything!"
As Xavier was remaining silent, she smiled and tapped on his nose "Anyway... You didn't answer..."
Xavier was noticably embarrassed... "Well, how was I to get them if I didnt look..."
Shrugging, he continued. "They scanned me on 4 separate occasions to make sure I didnt try and smuggle out evidence."
The girl bursted out laughing and made a vague sign with her hand "No you silly! I was talking about... where should we go...You talked about the Trident? That's the big ship thingy dingy, right?" She wondered.
Xavier finally replied after a moment of being as red as the Omega-11 sun. "Yeah, I have reserved a suite for you to recuperate and rest till all this is sorted out, as such I would suggest Baffin since that is where the Trident is. There is also plenty of exciting things to do on board. The entertainment wing is bustling."
Concordia looked at him, a bit scared "Baffin?" She leant back "I don't want to go there." "We are all worried about you Concordia" He raised an eyebrow after her remark "Only for a bit?" "Uhhuhhhh..." She replied, shaking her head "No!" "You dont need to go to Pueblo or Shasta while you're there." "Mom' will find out... And she will annoy me!"
"Hmmm..." Started Xavier, thinking a bit "Well, I guess the Trident could spend some time in Coronado if that would be better. I need to keep you close, Concordia." He said, showing a serious concern..
Fickle, she suddenly smiled teasingly again "You do? Why?" "Why do you think? Liberty has our number and if I am going to be keeping this under control I need to have all elements accounted for till this blows over. Besides, after my last visit to Liberty I havent had time to see how you were. Let me show you some hospitality as a means of gratitude from last time."
Pretending to be upset, she smiled a bit "Oh i see... You don't like me then" She said, nodding.
Leaning forward all of a sudden, she kissed him on the cheek. "Just kidding!" "Hmmm..." He mumbled, deciding to ignore that. "Anyway hmmm... Coronado is okay? I love that place...." She tilted her head "You know that big planet? Hmmm.... There is a big liner there!" "I was unaware of that." "You never visited the system?" "I have, but I somehow missed that."
"It's not all about Barrier pass, you know..." She said, smiling. "There is an IMG planet I know of... Pecos I think it was. Beyond that not much else." "Yay! But it's really boring there!"
The girl laughed.
"Well, if you want to visit that Liner I may be able to assist. Not sure if I can get DSE's approval but I can try." "Ohhhhh" She pulled an arm around him again and put her head on his shoulder "I don't mind... As long as we don't enter in Baffin... Please?"
Xavier allowed himself to smile quickly. "I understand. I'll call ahead to get the Trident to meet us in Coronado..."
He took out his wrist communicator and started to talk. The girl, seeing he was focused, decided to tickle him. "Trident Of Eris this is -haha- stop it! ...this is...-pfft- Concordia!"
Soon, a feminine voice soon replied with an excited tone. "XAVIER! This is Pan, how are you?? The ship is in ship shape. Tom, keeps telling the CO to keep me off the internal light controls. No one on this ship gives a.....-zzzt-"
After a while, another voice could be heard. "zzzt- My apologies Mr. Triton we have been taking care of Pan while Mr. Mellows is getting the Deviant Cathedral some maintenance." "zt- Who the fu--zzt- do you think you are!"
Meanwhile, Concordia moved closer to listen to the comms. "Uhhuhhh... Who is Pan?"
Xavier looked weary. "Someone I know you will love... She's a cap pilot on the Deviant Cathedral" "Oh! That's your girlfriend? She's cute?" "Hmmm.... She tends to think so, on both counts." "Uhoh..." "I've been trying to get her fixed on Thomas but she wont give him the time of day.."
Xavier suddenly noticed the guards ever increasing irritation. "errm. Maybe we should continue this enroute?" "Okay!" She grabbed the bag and stood up.
He rose as well and opened his arm for Concordia... "Shall we?"
"Eh. Bryan... Did you check #23?" "Sure he did..."
Some raucous laughter followed Fanny's remark.
"Oh shut up." "Hey... That's alright, Bryan... That girl had nice bumpers."
Bryan shook his head.
"You're hopeless Fanny." "Oh come on... I saw you eyeing her quite greedily yesterday..." "I was just ensuring she was okay..." "Right. That's why you stared at her bottom while she was walking." "Zip it."
Fanny shrugged and remained silent as she was checking the nose optronics of the guardian she was servicing.
After a while, her head appeared, coming out of the side panel. Mumbling something about those 'bloody Navy pilots not caring about their baby and forcing techs to overwork'.
She then gave a sidelook at Bryan who was busy setting up two lifting robots to move some supply crates.
"That girl isn't for you anyway.... I mean come on... LSF, damnit." "So what?" "Those women are married with their job, idiot." "Doesn..."
Bryan suddenly stopped to talk, quite surprised by the scene he was witnessing.
A man was struggling trying to carry an awfull lot of bags. He was preceded by a girl scampering along.
The girl started to run around, looking at every single vessel lined up in the astroport. Meanwhile, the man was walking towards an eagle parked not far.
"What are you doing?" Said the girl to Fanny who had her head stuck in the service panel of the guardian. "Sod off... Can't you see i'm busy.... Great, now i lost that contact wire. " Fanny stuck her head out of the panel and gave a look at the girl, sighing.
The girl put her head inside the panel, leaning forward "Whooooo! There is a lot of funny things there!"
Fanny looked at her brand new skirt and finally pulled her out. "Shooo! Shoooo!" She said, chasing her away with her hand. "You're a tech girl?" "Shoo i said!"
"Hey... Could you explain me how the unicorn is eating?"
Fanny rolled her eyes and kicked the girl's bottom with her foot. She ran away, giggling and sticking out her tongue at Fanny.
She then bumped into Bryan, making him almost fall to the ground. "Wooops! Sorry!" "Ahem..." "Who are you? Whoooo! You're cute! You have a girl? How old are you? You work here?"
Bryan blinked after this volley of questions. "What?"
The girl laughed. "Hey! It's not an answer that!"
She then focused on the crates and then at the lifting robots. "Woa! They are funny!"
"Concordia!" Said Xavier, near the Ticked Phoenix. "We're ready to go. Don't annoy those workers please." "Okay!" She scampered along quickly to the eagle and entered in the ship.
"What the hell was that...?" mumbled Bryan, looking at the girl's skirt.
Fanny already dived inside the service panel, ignoring him...
// Post 6 to 13 are a summary with another RP session with XTriton.
Concordia looked around curiously when she stepped in the eagle. "Woa it's tiny there!"
She turned around, adding mischievously : "You don't even have a bed!"
Xavier, entering in the Ticked Phoenix after her, simply answered "Well, the seats recline....and it has cup holders!" "Whooo! There is cup holders!"
She laughed and then elbowed him suddenly, rolling her eyes while grinning. "You noticed that girl in the astroport? She was cute!"
Xavier passed his hand on his hairs, still a bit surprised by her ability to jump to another subject of conversation with no forerunner. "The grimy mechanic?....She had her..."
The girl didn't let him finish... "Anyway!"
She suddenly ran to the cockpit, shouting : "I pilot!" "... Charm... Wait? what?!"
He followed her, trying to catch her. "Wait on! I always drive!"
Concordia laughed and sat on the flight chair "Too late Xaaavierrrr!" "Woaaaa...." She said, opening her eyes wide "There is a lot of funny controls... Hmmm.. What is this one doing..."
She tapped on the panel.
The phoenix engines started to make quite worrying subsonic noises... "Uhoh.... Weird noise! He's angry?" She said, gazing at Xavier who was looking visibly concerned...
"Careful with her. She has been by my side since I was in my teens."
He stared at her as she was turning back to face the console and started to caress the controls softly.
He sighed silently. "If you wish to drive her then keep in mind to treat her with care and respect."
Xavier looked to the side a bit and finally added "Just dont drive her into restricted areas ok?"
The girl laughed and stuck out her tongue "I promise nothing!" "Hmmm..." He mumbled disapprovingly.
She turned around, rolling her eyes "I'm kidding!"
Looking into his eyes while smiling softly, she then asked : "You teach me how to fly that sweetheart please, love?"
Xavier Triton shrugged and finally sighed... Looks like he wouldn't avoid it....
"I guess so." He finally added.
She laughed and tapped on her lap "Sit here! That will be easier!"
Xavier's eyes darted to Concordia's legs... Then at the skirt she bought an hour ago and insisted to wear...
A bead of sweat formed on his left temple.
"Ahem... Take this..."
He handed her a small inner earphone. "Rmm... What is that..."
The girl studied the earphone during a couple of seconds.
As she wasn't paying attention, he quickly collapsed into the passenger seat behind her.
"This'll allow me to send instructions verbally and through a HUD interface on your retina."
While speaking, he activated the retinal HUD interface on Concordia's earphone...
"Oh okay!" She Put it on her ear quickly. "Ready!"
"HUD: 'Kallisti, Xavier...'" "Oops." "Whooooo! She speaks!"
Xavier nodded. "The HUD will give basic instructions on the ship's operation...however I may need to append some instructions to account for my ship's....personality."
Concordia was playing with the earphone. "You mean she prefers boys?"
"HUD: 'New identity detected...scanning.....Concordia, female...TAZ Popess...*AWOL*'" "Ah!" She laughed. "You heard that! She said Female! That's sexist!"
Xavier ignored her, repressing the smile appearing on his face. "Heh... AWOL."
"She has quirks." He added, noticing her perplexity. "Ayyy-Wawwww-lll?"
Xavier started to explain "Away on..." He then shook his head "nevermind. Begin Ignition sequence."
Concordia looked around as the Ticked Phoenix was starting to come back to 'life'. "She's waking up!... Woaaaa... She's very different from the unicorn. He never talks to me!"
"HUD: 'Preliminary checks green...access the ignition controls via the touchpad on your left.'" "Careful with the A and 9 keys...they stick." Said Xavier, nodding while activating the comms systems..
"A-yyy.... And.... N-Eye-Neeee..." Said the girl, nibbling her tongue as she was focusing.
"Docking Control this is Xavier Triton and Concordia of the TAZ requesting clearance to undock...."
After a short while, the traffic regulation center of Manhattan's astroport #5 granted the ship to take off.
"We're ready to go? Let's go!"
She randomly typed on some buttons.
"No not that o....." "HUD: 'Missile launched.'" "What?! Abort! Abort!" Said the girl, shouting as she was shaking her head, panicked.
Too late...
A high velocity head left the nose of the ticked phoenix and made a long ark, coming back to the eagle...
Seeing that, Xavier leaned forward and frantically activated the countermeasures of the ship.
The Missile, being a mere cruise disruptor, veered off and exploded over the countermeasure.
"I harmed someone? No! No!"
Concordia hunched her shoulders, closing her eyes and expecting to hear soon enough an explosion or something similar.
As nothing was happening, she finally opened her eyes and looked around. "Uhuhhhh....?"
No explosion or people crying in pain. She sighed of relief.
Quickly turning around to gaze at Xavier, who was looking back at her making his 'I'm not quite pleased' face, she finally smiled innocently. "I'm sorry!"
Xavier kept staring at her, remaining unmoved.
After a moment, he lowered his head and sighed.
"Concordia...Concordia...wait for the nice HUD to tell you what to do first before you reach for the controls ok?" "Okay!" She replied, nodding.
"HUD: 'Activate manual flight controls using the left touch-pad... Tip for dummies :: The commands to manual control are highlighted'"
The girl focused on the instructions and started to type on the right keys, making the phoenix take off and fend Manhattan sky.
It was a shiny afternoon and the girl opened her eyes wide, enjoying the view. "Xavierrrrr! Look! It's all blue! And there! White! Woaaaaaa...."
Coughing, he tapped on her shoulder to remind her she was the one piloting the ship.
After a moment, the manual flight stick unlocked in front of her, while velocity controls were light up to the right. "This should look familiar to you."
"Rmmm...."
Grabing the stick she turned to look into his eyes, sticking out her tongue. "I always wondered why those had that funny shape!"
"Anyway!"
Taking control of the Ticked Phoenix, She accelerated, raising the nose of the eagle to head to the low orbit. "Wow oh.... Easy Concordia... You're not following the optimal ascension ang..."
Without warning, she suddenly launched the ship into a controlled spin, flirting with the critical climbing rates and pushing the phoenix to its limit.
"Whooooooooooooo!!" She shouted during all the ascension, while a somewhat shocked Xavier was clinging on the armrests of his seat.
Getting out of the atmosphere of Manhattan with velocity, the eagle almost bumped into a gunboat passing by. "Ouuups! That was close!"
Xavier, breathing out for the first time since a while, took a moment to contemplate the potential damages that could have been done to the Ticked Phoenix already...
Another bead of sweat formed on his forehead.
Meanwhile, Concordia opened a node to reach Neuralnet and calculated a course to California in no time, as if she was back into her element.
"Hmmm.." mumbled Xavier. "What...?" "Oh... Nothing. You seem to know what you're doing."
Resting on his seat, he looked at her controlling the Ticked Phoenix, still a bit uncomfortable with her flying his ship...
Cutting the Phoenix's engine and waiting for the last moment to dock with the lane, making the AI of the vessel bleep in frustration, the girl then took the direction of West Point.
As they were almost arrived to the decelerating zone, she suddenly 'emergency' disengaged the link with the lanes and, using only the phoenix's inertia and the small side vectorial thrusters, she headed to California's gate lane.
"Awww... You ever been to that funny place right there?" She pointed to their 'left' "Concordia..." "... I love that place! It's funny there! It's all violet and..." "Concordia!" "Hmmmm?"
Xavier pointed at the two big transports that were following a course to take the California's lane. "Uhohhhh? Ah! There is a little space between them!"
He leaned forward, trying to look at the scene better. After a while he said "We won't fit there..."
She turned around to look at him, making her innocent face. "What do you bet?"
Xavier pouted "No need to bet, i know it..." "Ah! You're scared to lose!"
The girl laughed and, ignoring the collision warnings, she headed right into the little space between them.
Xavier, clenching his teeth, gripped the handles of his flight chair once again...
"Hmmm hmmmm hmmm...." Said the girl, nibbling her tongue as she was trying to fit into the little gap. "Oh nonono... Nononono..." was mumbling Xavier...
After a moment of anguish, Xavier finally noticed they made it, missing the second transport nose by a tiny metter and resulting into a torrent of insults thrown over the comms after she cut that transport up.
The girl thumbed up, beaming "Score!"
"Do not.... Do that again.... Ever..." said Xavier, passing his hand on his forehead. "What? The Unicorn loves when i do that!" "I told you to be gentle with her... I just got the inertial stabilizers replaced!"
She looked quite embarrassed and finally replied, gazing shyly at him "Uhuhh... Okay okay! I will be a nice girl! I promise!"
"Hmmm.... Perhaps I should have brought the Firefird. She would definitely love you." He finally said, gaining back his composure and allowing himself to smirk slightly. "Firebird?" "One of my younger ships..a Nyx." Xavier replied, showing some pride. "Hmmm.... Nyx..."
Soon after, the Ticked Phoenix jumped.
Destination : California system...
After the phoenix was eaten by the jump gate and entered in the singularity, Concordia got on her feet and climbed on her chair.
Putting her knees on the back of the seat, she hold her head between her hands, looking at Xavier thoughtfully.
"They are weird! I visited one once. It's really tiny inside!" She finally said.
Xavier nodded. "I tend to use her when I see trouble on the horizon. Has the least mass of any fighter I have used save the Arrow." "Har....Awww? What is that?" "A racing ship basically."
"Hmmmm?" She thought for a while, admiring the reflects of the wormhole's walls filling the cockpit of the Ticked Phoenix.
Suddenly, she turned her head when she heard the dehumanized voice of the AI. "HUD: 'This system has reached the end of the "CTE ships for dummy's" tute software.'"
The girl laughed and pretended to be upset, pouting. "You heard that! She called me a dummy!" "HUD: 'Thank you for using the CTE-6000 for your space experience'"
As the AI was continuing to talk, Xavier bit his lip to stop a smirk forming...
He then coughed "We should arrive soon. Get back into your seat." "O...Kay."
She quickly sat back. The vessel soon decelerated and California's sky quickly filled the visible horizon.
Tapping away on the commands, Concordia tilted her head.
"Ah! I remember that place... Rmmm... Oh right right right!"
She smiled all of a sudden. "You know that funny base... Not far? Hmm hmm... I danced there not so long ago!"
Xavier Raised an eyebrow "That... Funny base..." "You know?" She headed slowly to the lane leading to Mojave's orbit while checking the ship's memory. "Uhoh... She doesn't know it! That's in that big rock thingy right there!" She said, pointing to their left.
He blinked. "So you're saying you danced at a high security research station?" "What? I don't think? It's a rogue base!" She replied after a while, laughing. "... Rogue base?"
Xavier sat forward and looked down Concordia's arm to where she pointed a few seconds ago... "Oh... That base...Went for a drink once...good brawlers there."
He then turned red when he realized what he let slip... "Errm...not that I would know firsthand or anything."
"So you encountered nice girls there?" She said after a while, smiling.
He made a face that mixed between distaste and smugness... "I would guess the Rogues think they are nice..."
"Hey.. It's rare to see girls there... Guess you were lucky!" She replied as they reached Mojave.
She then added innocently "That's why when i dance there... They are all jumping on me like no tomorrow! That's a bit silly!"
He looked at her, a bit concerned. "You're prepared just in case right?" he asked after giving a sidelook at his sidearm. "Prepared? About what?" "What if one of em get's a little...ya know...too excited. These old space dogs sometimes dont see any women for months."